Wizards & Avalonians I: The Man-Who-Won & the Ladies from Avalon
by Pyeknu
Summary: Side story to "Phoenix From the Ashes." It is thirteen years since Voldemort's demise. Wizarding Britain is still trying to recover as Harry and his allies push for changes. The commissioning of HMS Hood causes panic as magicals realize muggles now have alien technology under their control. Will Luna's trip to Yaminokuni bring benefit for the magicals of the land…and Harry, too?
1. The Levée Aboard HMS Hood

_**Wizards and Avalonians I:  
The Man-Who-Won and the Ladies from Avalon**_  
by Fred Herriot  
A side story to _Phoenix From the Ashes_

Proofreading done by Rose1948, Rashaan Butler and Rorschach's Blot

Based on _Harry Potter_, created by Joanna K. Rowling; _Ikkitōsen_, created by Shiozaki Yūji; and _Urusei Yatsura_, created by Takahashi Rumiko.

Including characters, references and situations from _Mahō Sensei Negima_, created by Akamatsu Ken; and _Kōtetsu Tenshi Kurumi_, created by Kaishaku (Ōta Hitoshi and Shichinohe Terumasa).

_Phoenix From the Ashes_ was derived from the fanfic _The Bet: Crippled_, written by Gregg Sharp. This story also contains characters and situations from the fanfic series _Urusei Yatsura - The Senior Year_, created by Mike Smith and Fred Herriot.

* * *

**WRITER'S PREFACE**

_I did make mention of the various magical societies on Earth in various places in_ Phoenix From the Ashes_, especially when I brought in the character of Rear Admiral Heather "Spitfire" Thompkins in Part 51 of the story. This expands on the question of how the hidden magical societies on Earth might react to the Earth Defence Force and the Avalonians. The story begins a day after Luna Lovegood and Terry Boot returned to Britain from H.M.S. _Hood_ as shown in Part 55 of_ PFtA_. _

_Enjoy!_

* * *

The Borough of Islington in London, in a hidden house on Grimmauld Place, Friday 9 July 2010, mid-afternoon…

"Harry, why were _we_ invited to this? You know we can't…"

A gentle kiss made the pretty — though also look prematurely aged for a woman who was physically only twenty or so — woman stop as she gazed into the warm green eyes of the Man-Who-Won. "Her Majesty wouldn't care, Mandy," Harry Potter stated as he gave Mandy Brocklehurst a reassuring look. "The invitation from the Palace indicated that not only was I to attend tonight's levée aboard _Hood_…but my 'companions' as well. That includes both you and Pansy, plus Teddy's mother. I can't refuse, you know."

Hearing that, Mandy's hazel eyes teared. "Did I ever tell you how much I love you, Harry?"

"You tell me that every day," Harry said as he moved to pull her onto her feet, and then he looked towards the kitchen of the beautiful townhouse he had inherited over a decade before at the death of his godfather Sirius Black. "How's Dora, Pansy?"

"She's fine. Quiet as a puffskein as usual, but fine," Pansy Parkinson said as she wheeled out a beautiful older woman in a wheelchair — magically enhanced, of course, to get around floor obstacles as well as ascend and descend stairs — to join her lover and would-be co-wife. "Just had to make sure all the charms were in place to keep her warm. With the low levels of magic she's got now…"

"Would she be safe, Harry?"

Harry gazed on the portrait of the elderly woman now mounted on the wall dividing the sitting room and the ground floor hallway leading to the front doors. "She should be fine, Grandaunt Walburga," he said as he gave the image of Sirius' mother Walburga Black a reassuring smile. "All of _Hood_'s crew were given a carte blanche exception by Her Majesty from the restrictions in the Statute of Secrecy; given that Avalonians are all high-order psychics, it just didn't make any sense to try to keep the magical world hidden from them. And since _Hood_ is meant to protect ALL Britons — magical and normal alike — why keep us secret from the normals on that ship?"

"Especially since two of those delightful Space Angels saved your poor cousin and adopted her as their child," the portrait of Walburga's great-grandfather, Professor Phineas Nigellus Black — the last Slytherin alumnus to be Headmaster of the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry — mused from his place close to the fireplace.

"Especially because of that, Headmaster!" Harry affirmed with a nod. When he had been confirmed as the Head of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black of Grimmauld in the summer of 1996, the portraits of his late godfather's relatives had warmed up immediately to the Boy-Who-Lived. Even if the orphaned child of James and Lily Potter was a half-blood in the eyes of the pureblood elite of British wizarding society, he had been magically adopted by Sirius Black before Phineas' great-great-grandson died at the hands of his cousin Bellatrix Lestrange at the fight in the Department of Mysteries just before the end of the school year. Despite Walburga having blasted off Sirius' image from the Black family tapestry in the 1970s for his turning his back on his family, her husband Orion hadn't formally disowned their elder son before his death in 1979…which gave Sirius the right to claim the headship of his family after he escaped Azkaban over a decade later.

"Oh, speaking of which, Harry, how is young Margaret?" the portrait of Walburga's husband — which was mounted right beside his wife's image — then asked. "Ms. O'Neill and Ms. Carter haven't been by to visit for a while."

"She's fine, Granduncle Orion. Doing really good in infant school; she'll be moving on to junior school in September. She's fully recovered from what Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia did to her after Dudley got sent to jail because of his drug problem." He shook his head. "Stupid idiots…"

"Harry, there are idiots everywhere you go," Phineas said with a touch of sympathy in his voice. Despite Dudley Dursley's drug problems, that he had gladly accepted jail time for his crimes showed him to be a far more honourable man than his "perfectly normal" parents…both of whom were now learning how to survive in jail as they served time at Her Majesty's pleasure for their abuse of their only grandchild for the few bouts of accidental magic she had shown since Vernon and Petunia had taken Margaret into their custody two years ago. "Normal or magical, it doesn't matter. Just be happy that another of your mother's family is alive and safe."

"And in good hands," Orion added. "The strength Ms. O'Neill and Ms. Carter showed to all those who hated the idea of their adopting young Margaret because they were aliens…even after what their so-called 'masters' did to them before the Earth Angel and her siblings freed them all…"

"Indeed!" Walburga declared with an approving nod.

Harry smirked. Ever since Margaret Dursley was rescued from her grandparents back in March thanks to Lucy O'Neill and her bond-mate Shelley Carter, the portraits of all of Sirius' relatives had expressed keen interest in meeting other Space Angels — as Avalonians were commonly referred to throughout the English-speaking world — who were now resident in Britain. Of course, while the scientific truth of such women tended to fly over the heads of most wand magicals — many of Harry's countrymen tended to view them as a very interesting version of a muggle golem, a being that a person could actually interbreed with and have human children with — the fact that the Man-Who-Won's own cousin had been rescued from the monsters who badly abused Harry Potter after his parents' deaths in 1981 was a mark in favour of such beings. In the wake of that, many magicals — guided usually by normal-borns — had gone forth to meet Avalonian-Britons and learn more about these beautiful psychics now living throughout the United Kingdom.

It could have led to a very positive evolution of British wizarding society as a whole…

…until the Avalonians' ex-masters and their allies on Uru moved to ruin it a week before.

And effectively forced many in wizarding Britain to confront the fact that the muggles now possessed technology that could be seen as truly magical in the eyes of many.

Which allowed very old fears — the same fears that forced magicals to adopt the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy in 1689 — to roar back from the depths of their souls like a tidal wave.

Harry shook his head, which made both Pansy and Mandy grin. Twelve years of living with the Man-Who-Won had taught both his lovers a lot about his moods. "Still thinking about what's been said about _Hood_?" his Ravenclaw lover then asked.

He sighed. "Yeah. Hopefully when Luna gets out that special addition to the _Quibbler_ on Monday, some of the fears will be chased away," he admitted.

"If they don't end up being increased," Phineas mused from his portrait.

"What do you mean, Professor Black?" Pansy asked.

He chuckled. "You weren't around when news of Deannette Raeburn's Power Jewel broke out of Canada in the 1890s, Pansy. Naturally, there were elements of the Canadian Ministry of Magical Affairs who wanted to seize the thing and study it." A sigh escaped him. "Thank Merlin for the Niitsítapi; they had known the truth of that device for centuries. The one time some idiot from Ottawa tried to physically PULL the Jewel off that woman…"

Morbid laughter filled the living room as Harry shook his head again. Given the fact that the Power Jewel now held by one Major General Deannette A. Raeburn of the Canadian Army had been on Earth for three billion years, it had absorbed incalculable levels of life energy — "ki" as the Japanese called it — to bestow on its chosen Host powers that were simply godlike in scale. With the Jewel on her person, no magical curse could hurt her, not even the Killing Curse. Dean could — after she had been trained by the Immortal Master Hosan Hirosuke himself in the 1920s and 1930s — dead lift the mass of a MOUNTAIN with both arms, fly through any medium at supersonic speeds, resist everything up to a thermonuclear bomb blast at point-blank range and do anything else she could imagine within certain self-imposed limits. Her marksmanship and swordsmanship — Power Jewels always came with a beautiful edged blade forged of pure neutronium that was normally called a "Cat's Claw sword"; for humanoid Jewel Warriors, such was always shaped like a straight-blade version of a Japanese katana with a deadly chisel point and a razor-sharp cutting edge — were incredible as well…and she had used such to devastating effect against the Axis in World War Two. When one saw the leader of the War Hawks in action, the reason many mystics and magicals respectfully referred to her as the "Protector of All Life" became very clear.

"Well, that was resolved a long time ago, sir," Harry mused as he walked over to gently stroke Nymphadora Lupin's dark brown hair, which made the nearly-comatose auror — who had been struck down by Bellatrix Lestrange in the final Battle of Hogwarts in late August of 1997, most likely with the same type of curse that had struck down Neville Longbottom's parents years earlier — smile as she gazed up at her son's godfather. "Lucky thing the Queen didn't call the general in to help deal with Voldemort. It would have been a slaughter for sure."

"True…but I can understand what made Deannette decide to not be a 'superhero' as the Americans like to refer to such beings," Phineas said before he perked. "Oh!"

The fire in the living room hearth exploded in emerald flames as a pretty blonde woman about Harry's age came into the room. Like Harry and his companions, Luna Lovegood was dressed in fashionable clothes for a levée in the presence of the Queen. "Hello, everyone!" the daughter of the owner of the _Quibbler_ declared. "Ronald should…"

"Hey, Harry!"

Luna turned as someone else came through the floo. "Hey, Ron!" Harry said as he walked over to take Ron Weasley's hand in his own. "Got away from your mother, eh?"

"Bloody right I did. Can't believe she won't listen to a damned thing about the real reason _Hood_ was commissioned," the star keeper of the Chudley Cannons — whose long losing streak had finally been broken in 2001 after the youngest son of Arthur and Molly Weasley had joined the team and they had charged all the way to the League Cup — said, and then he looked down at himself. "Well? Does this look pretty good?"

Harry looked, nodding in appreciation. Ron was wearing a dark maroon blazer with a white shirt underneath topped with a red-and-gold Gryffindor tie, black slacks and a pair of Oxford shoes over his feet. "Looks perfect, Ron. Lucky thing for us that the Order of Merlin medallion is so similar to the Bath civil division star, so people won't be too curious. And they're charmed to look like the Bath star to normals."

"Damn straight," Ron said as he gave his best friend a close look-over before nodding in approval on seeing how sharp-dressed Harry was; many of the Man-Who-Won's friends had long memories of the hand-me-downs Harry had always been given by his guardians until he took control of his family fortune in 1996 and decided to finally look the part of a young lord both in the magical and normal worlds. Noting the beautiful sash and medal star on Harry's black blazer, Ron could only smile. They were both First Class winners of the Order of Merlin thanks to their spirited defence of Hogwarts in the final battle against Voldemort and the Death Eaters — Harry's award had also been given in recognition for his long-running battles with the Dark Lord ever since the Boy-Who-Lived began attending Hogwarts — so they wore the deep royal blue sash of the Order of Merlin from right shoulder to left hip, plus the star of the medal on the left side of their jackets. Luna herself was a winner of the Order of Merlin Second Class; she didn't wear the sash of the higher award, but the star of that award was on her blouse under her left breast. Indeed, to most normal observers, The Most Honourable The Marquess of Taunton Deane and Grimmauld, Sir Ronald Bilius Weasley of Ottery Saint Catchpole and Dame Luna Selene Lovegood of Ottery Saint Catchpole would appear to be two young knight commanders and one dame commander of the civil division of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath…which would ensure less work for the Obliviators given the mixed situation aboard _Hood_ this evening.

"Hello! Harry?!"

"C'mon in, 'Mione!" Harry called out.

A lovely woman then stepped into the room through the floo. Like the others of the so-called "Golden Trio of Hogwarts," Hermione Granger had the sash and star of the Order of Merlin First Class on her dress under her business overcoat; given that the levée would be held on the open upper flight deck of _Hood_, the chances were there that it would be chilly and she didn't want to use heating charms to stay warm. After a quick check of Ron to ensure the pureblood member of the Trio was properly dressed for a levée amongst the Royal Family and the normals, the Special Adviser on Normal Affairs to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement then walked over to look in on Pansy, Mandy and Dora. "Hey, Dora," Hermione said as she gently touched the wounded auror's chin.

Dora's dark eyes turned to gaze absently at Hermione, and then a light smile crossed her face. "Even with all the research they've done, they still haven't really discovered what happened to her, huh?" Ron mused as he and Luna came up to gaze upon their nearly-comatose friend.

"Not at all…but the healers at St. Mungo's have confirmed it's the same type of spell that was used on Neville's parents in '81," Pansy admitted as she gazed down at Dora. "Some sort of Lestrange family magic, I think. I've tried every potion I could think of — and even tried some of the experimental stuff Uncle Severus has invented since the war — to try to fully snap her out of it, but it doesn't work. At least the idea of getting her out of that place has done her some good."

"How so, Pansy?" Luna asked.

"She has been able to go to the washroom and back to her bedroom when she needs to. She also understands about eating even if Winky often has to hand-feed her," Pansy stated. "So that shows she is capable of some things. Neville's parents are pretty much the same way now that they're out of St. Mungo's and back home; at least, that's what Mike passed on to me from Neville himself." Michael Parkinson was Pansy's older brother. A former Ravenclaw, he had been a year ahead of his sister and had become the Earl of Keerford on the deaths of their parents just before the Battle of Hogwarts. And while the actions of the late Malcolm Parkinson concerning Pansy's future had caused her a lot of grief afterwards, the love between Michael and Pansy was as solid as neutronium. In the wake of Pansy becoming a squib thanks to a broken magical contract that Harry Potter had rejected out of a simple desire to not adhere to such nonsense, Michael always provided for his crippled sister and employed her as a private potions researcher; even if Pansy couldn't use a wand these days, her brain was still very sharp.

Sadly, Mandy couldn't claim the same thing with the last living member of her family, her father Benjamin Brocklehurst. After Mandy had lost her magic when Harry rejected the marriage contract that had been negotiated behind his back between Benjamin and Albus Dumbledore before the latter's death in the late spring of 1997, the potions store owner based now in Knockturn Alley had always acted as if it had been _Mandy_'s fault that she had been forced to become a squib. And while Benjamin still denied his role in nearly wrecking his only daughter's life, he dared not do it in public these days; harassment of squibs — "non-magical magic-born persons" as they were properly titled these days — by any means had been outlawed in 2004. These days, the elder Brocklehurst publicly avoided Mandy like the plague; he had no desire to spend a year in Azkaban if the aurors — many of whom, in a desire to earn the favour of the Man-Who-Won, openly supported the reform movement he helped champion regardless of their own blood-status — caught him hurting his child. Further, with the death of Mandy's mother Belinda and older brother Kenneth thanks to the Death Eaters in the fall of 1996, she had no family to her name outside the people she lived with at Grimmauld Place.

"That's a good sign," Mandy noted, and then she took a deep breath. "Teddy!" she called out towards the hallway. "We're ready to go!"

"Coming, Aunt Mandy!"

Everyone watched as a grinning boy of twelve came down the stairs, followed by an equally smiling house elf in the formal robes of a servant of the House of Potter. Dressed smartly in his Hogwarts school robes — his school badges were spelled with a notice-me-not charm to ensure those normals who would take notice of it wouldn't get too curious — the only child of the late Remus Lupin and his wife Nymphadora Tonks-Lupin was literally bursting with excitement at the idea of stepping onto the decks of Britain's first ever _**starship**_. Fortunately for the adults in the room, Ted Lupin was wearing a bracelet that helped him control his metamorphmagus powers…though with the expected presence of one Rear Admiral Heather Thompkins aboard _Hood_ this evening, any accidental magical displays could be easily explained off. "Master Harry, Master Terry is all ready to go aboard the great sky ship," Winky proudly declared as she bowed her head to Harry. "Winky only wishes she could come with everyone."

"Have you actually tried to teleport aboard _Hood_, Winky?" Luna asked with a knowing smile.

"Winky DID try, Mistress Luna!" the crimson-haired elf stated. "After all, Winky wants to make sure the places Master Harry and Master Harry's family are going to are safe for them! But the wards on _Hood_ are so STRONG! Winky couldn't get aboard to look around!"

"Relax, Winky," Harry immediately stated on seeing that the poor elf was about to break down and cry at failing to properly serve her family. "Now, make sure the place is locked up while we're gone."

"Of course, Master Harry!"

"_Allons-y!_" Pansy then called out.

Everyone stared at her. "Pansy…no offence, but you bloody hell watch too much muggle television!" Ron said as everyone made their way to fireplace.

"And what's the matter with watching _Doctor Who_, Ronald?" Luna wondered.

In a moment, everyone had disappeared into the floo…

* * *

The City of Westminster, Ministry of Defence Headquarters…

The people from Grimmauld Place emerged from a fireplace in a private room in the north block of the building on the east side of Whitehall, said room was also warded with muggle repellant and notice-me-not charms; only non-magical magic-born persons who worked for the Ministry of Defence — not to mention Avalonian-Britons who worked here; the news that muggle repellant and notice-me-not charms had no effect on Avalonians hadn't yet got out into the general magical public — knew of this place. And sure enough, a smiling elderly man in the uniform of an Army warrant officer class 1 of an infantry regiment was waiting for them. "Great-grandpa!" Hermione called out as she embraced the last regimental sergeant-major of the 4th/5th (Cinque Ports) Battalion of the Royal Sussex Regiment, who had served in said regiment through two world wars. "How are you?! What are you doing here?!"

"Well, I'm here to escort my beautiful great-granddaughter aboard Her Majesty's Starship _Hood_ for Her Majesty's levée," WO1 Nathaniel Carter said as he allowed Luna, Pansy and Mandy to embrace him, and then he firmly shook Harry's, Ron's and Ted's hands before he walked over to gently embrace Dora, kissing her on the cheek. "And to announce to you that I've been called back to service. Part-time service, of course."

Everyone gaped, and then they gazed on the hat badge on his peaked cap; Carter was in Number 2 uniform as this levée was not seen as an occasion requiring ceremonial uniforms. It had the beautiful star badge of the Royal Sussex Regiment, not the garter badge with dragon of the Queen's Regiment or the garter badge with dragon and rose of the Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment. "They reformed your regiment?" Harry asked.

A nod as the old soldier waved them out of the room to the landing close to the north doors. The magicals were all quick to see him literally billow with pride as he answered, "All the old infantry regiments that were active at the end of the Second World War were reformed as Territorial Army units over the last month, Director Potter." WO1 Carter tried not to preen. "Right now, just at two battalions per regiment…which, given the number of Avalonian-Britons and Terran-Britons now flocking to join the TA, means…"

"A total of a hundred and thirty infantry battalions," Hermione stated.

"AND they're fully manned to…"

"Bloody hell!"

People paused on hearing Ron's exclamation, and then they paused to gaze on him. Noting that he was now staring off somewhere north of east, everyone looked themselves.

The sight was impressive.

"The Durmstrang galley is NOTHING compared to THAT!" Mandy whispered to Pansy.

The raven-haired, brown-eyed alumnus of Slytherin could only nod. "Nothing that has ever flown or sailed the high seas can compare to that, Mandy."

And it was quite understandable.

Floating a half-kilometre above the waters of the Thames, Her Majesty's Starship _Hood_ had her bow pointing west towards Buckingham Palace; when Harry had seen Britain's first starship from the roof of Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes on Monday morning when she was commissioned by the Prince of Wales, the great vessel had her bow pointed east towards the North Sea. As she was currently "at anchor," the Union Flag was flying off her jack staff at the bow with the White Ensign at her ensign staff. From one of the booms projecting out from her foremast, a dark blue admiral's pennant with two gold maple leaves in horizontal formation flew; the maple leaves indicated that the force commander of the United Nations Earth Defence Force was currently aboard the British starship. No Royal Standard was visible on the ship; the Queen wasn't scheduled to arrive aboard for over an hour via Star Flare shuttle transporting her from Windsor Castle. Unlike other warships when they "dressed ship" in preparation for a visit from the Queen, _Hood_ didn't have the long cable lines that could have signal flags strung from them. But her cloudy grey hull with its sky blue sheen was currently aglow with running lights and external lamps that showed off her white-trimmed black pendant number **51** on the hull underneath the main bridge, the Union Flag painted on the hull aft of amidships and the name **HOOD** in red letters written just forward of the main engine exhausts; when evening finally came, the ship would look simply spectacular.

"Ah! There you are!"

Everyone turned…and then WO1 Carter walked over to take the hand of the man in dress blues with the Arms of Dominion on his lower sleeves denoting his current rate. "Warrant Officer Class 1 Paul Gordon. I'm _Hood_'s Master-At-Arms," the newcomer introduced himself as he gave his equal in rank a polite nod.

"Warrant Officer Class 1 Nate Carter. Regimental Sergeant-major, 1st Battalion of the Royal Sussex Regiment," the older man said before he proudly waved to Hermione — which made the other magicals all grin — as he did introductions.

"Pleased to meet you all…and it's jolly good to see you again, Miss Lovegood," WO1 Gordon said as he waved everyone west down Horse Guards Avenue towards Whitehall itself. "Lucky thing our friends in the Horse Guards were willing to allow their parade square to be used by us to transport people aboard _Hood_."

"Why not use the materialisers?" Harry asked.

"'Materialisers?'" a confused Ron wondered.

"It's their version of apparition, Ron," Hermione explained.

He then nodded. "Oh, you mean transporters!"

Luna laughed. "And you complained to Pansy about watching _Doctor Who_, Ronald?"

He flustered as the two elder servicemen laughed. "Lucky thing there's a whole bunch of young dragons ready to breathe some new life among magicals," Gordon noted.

"Well, they are trying, Paul," Carter mused, glad to note that _Hood_'s crew had been thoroughly briefed on Britain's magical side. "But the old pureblood gentry are still fighting tooth and nail to keep things as they were." He shook his head. "Just the perfect thing to bring out another wanker like that Riddle fellow."

"You can say that again," Mandy muttered under her breath.

_Hood_'s senior rate perked. "Something the matter, Ms. Brocklehurst?"

"It's Mandy's father, sir," Ron answered before Harry could glare his friend into silence as his lovers really didn't care to have their non-powered state sung out to every person in sight…even if said person was a normal. "The bastard tricked her into signing a magical marriage contract to have her married to Harry here. But since Harry wasn't warned ahead of time, when he rejected the contract, she…well…"

Gordon blinked, and then he sighed. "You have my deepest condolences, young lady," he said as he gazed intently at Mandy, who gave him a misty-eyed smile in return.

Ron then thumbed Pansy. "Pansy here's the same way," he added.

"I see," the master-at-arms breathed out. "Well, maybe we can do something about it when we're aboard. Come along now, people. The shuttle's this way."

The magicals all blinked as Luna smiled a secret smile…

* * *

Once they got to Horse Guard Parade, they boarded one of the Space Dhow SVC2 shuttles for the quick trip over the skies of central London to the _Hood_. Piloting the craft was an incredibly beautiful woman who had given Harry and Ron appraising looks before she glanced towards Mandy and Pansy with a nod in understanding. She was dressed in Royal Navy work dress with a jacket and baseball cap on her head. Her jacket epaulettes — as befitting a raw recruit in the senior service of the United Kingdom — were covered with bright blue slip-ons bearing a black rectangular patch on the base surrounded in gold ship's rope and topped with a naval coronet, the word **HOOD** in bright gold within the box. The white name tape on her left breast read **DOWDING L.** in black. Gazing upon her from her seat in the back of the small shuttle — and quickly noting how extraordinarily beautiful she was — Hermione leaned over to whisper to Harry, "Is she an Avalonian?"

Harry nodded. "I think so," he whispered back.

"Don't you recognize the name?" Ron quietly asked.

"Huh?"

"Leilani Dowding," Ron said. "She was one of those girls that appeared in muggle newspapers like the _Sun_ and all that." He ignored Hermione's incensed look as he added, "Luna told me all the Space Angels on _Hood_ were named after those girls."

"Since when did you start reading the _Sun_, Ron?" Hermione frostily hissed.

"Oi! Even if I date Raven a lot, I'm still single! Give me a break!"

Unseen by many of the magicals, a certain raven-haired, dusky-skinned Terran-form Avalonian-Briton would-be communications and information specialist — who had been elected as Elder Mother of the Avalonians now on _Hood_ earlier that day — was trying not to blush TOO much on being so readily recognized by Ron Weasley. Like all of _Hood_'s current ship's company, Leilani Dowding had heard all the incredible stories about the magical side of British society since she had first woken after gestation aboard her current home starship back in February. And while she had been quick to sense the bonds of deep love Harry Potter's two would-be wives felt for him, the fact that Ron Weasley was still effectively single — even if he did state that he was dating some woman named "Raven"; _Could that be Raven Malfoy?_ Leilani wondered to herself as she recalled the story of the disembodied spirits of over ninety unborn magical children tracked down by the Elder Mother of all Avalonians in Britain, Alice Holmes, in the 1980s and given new life as Terran-turned-Avalonians — would certainly catch the interest of many of her sisters once he got aboard _Hood_.

As soon as the Space Dhow had soared over the Thames north of Westminster Bridge into the sky over the borough of Lambeth, Leilani easily keyed the flight controls to allow the shuttle to perform a lazy starboard circle to the south, flying all the way down to Burgess Park before she turned the shuttle north, allowing the passengers in the back to see _Hood_ in all her vastness through the front windows. As the Golden Trio, Hermione's great-grandfather, Harry's godson and his would-be wives got out of their chairs to gaze on the massive starship ahead, they just fell silent as the sheer scale of Britain's first faster-than-light spacecraft sank in. "The bow's halfway between London Bridge and the Cannon Street Bridge…and the stern reaches right past Tower Bridge!" Hermione whispered.

"That's one bloody BIG ship!" Ron breathed out.

"How can it just FLOAT up in the sky like that?!" Mandy demanded.

"Anti-gravity projectors in the hull, Ms. Brocklehurst," Leilani explained. "Right now, they're at a setting that allows the ship to hold position in a sort of 'parking float' over the Thames. If they were turned on full-force, planetary rotation would shoot the ship right into orbit." She gazed at her passengers. "That's not recommended, of course."

"I'll bet," Pansy breathed out, and then she perked. "Is it true?"

"What is, Ms. Parkinson?"

"Some idiot Yank tried to blow up _Hood_'s sistership _Arizona_ on Monday?"

Leilani nodded. "Unfortunately so. Even if we don't mean you any harm, there are some natives who just don't care for the idea of having aliens live amongst them."

"Why?!" Mandy demanded.

"It's the same sort of reason people liked to burn magicals at the stake back before you had that secrecy statute passed in 1692, Ms. Brocklehurst," WO1 Gordon said as he looked over his shoulder at the former Ravenclaw. "Or the same sort of reason those who fought with that Riddle fellow your fiancé here had to put down in '97 — much less that Grindelwald bastard Admiral Thompkins and her friends helped put down in '45 — went after normals all the time. It's basic human nature. People sometimes can't accept others who are different. Different skin colour, magical or non-magical, normal or metahuman, Terran or alien…" He shook his head. "Some people just love to stir up the pot for whatever reason fancies them, ma'am. Can't avoid that sort of rot."

"So you put them down by whatever means possible," WO1 Carter added.

The others nodded…

* * *

Within a minute, the Space Dhow had slid perfectly into one of _Hood_'s boat bays.

There, Harry got a big shock.

"Mary Caldwell?!"

The lieutenant in her blue Number 1A uniform — her sheathed ceremonial sword was hooked to the belt around her waist — laughed as she warmly grasped her old primary school classmate's hand. "Hey, Harry!" the pretty woman with the long brown hair in a bun and the glittering hazel eyes called out. "It's been a long time since we were at Little Whinging Primary, eh?! Always wondered what happened to you after we moved on to secondary school. Never believed that whole 'St. Brutus' School' rot your uncle and aunt put out to all the neighbours after you went off to Hogwarts. It's good to see you again!"

"One of Dudley's victims, Harry?" Ron asked as he gave his friend a knowing look.

"She was one of MANY of them, Ron," Harry admitted before he proceeded to do introductions.

"So when did you find out Harry was magical, Lieutenant Caldwell?" Pansy asked.

"Call me Mary," the junior anti-ship warfare director of _Hood_ said. "Didn't actually find out until I was assigned to this big boat here and we got briefed by Mr. Boot from your — Department of Mysteries, was it? — after Her Majesty issued the Magical Royal Proclamation allowing us to learn of magicals." She smiled as Leilani — who, after shutting down the Space Dhow, had gone off to get an anti-gravity chair for Dora Lupin — came up to rejoin them. "Here, let's get Mrs. Lupin into a chair."

"Her normal chair is magically enhanced to work around floor obstacles, Mary," Pansy said.

"True, but the magical wards on this ship could interfere with whatever you used on this chair," Leilani said. "Here, let's get her over. Give us a hand, Ted?"

Ted — who had been stunned speechless when he finally got a chance to fully gaze upon the sheer beauty of the Avalonian-Briton who had brought them aboard — smiled as he helped his mother from her wheelchair into the floating anti-gravity unit. "Can you feel inside her, Ms. Dowding?"

_Hood_'s Elder Mother perked, and then she hummed as she reached over to gently touch Dora's face. After a moment, she shuddered. "I can barely sense her in there," she admitted as she and Mary guided Dora into sitting down. "What in Lyna's name happened to her?"

"Some sort of family magic curse her aunt hit her with when we finally put down the Death Eaters in '97, Leilani," Ron said as Leilani helped adjust Dora into place, and then she placed her blanket over her lap. "Folks at St. Mungo's can't figure out what to do with her, though."

Leilani hummed. "Maybe the Thoughtmistress-prime could look at her."

"Who?" Harry wondered.

"Moroboshi Negako," Mary provided. "You folks call her the 'Earth Angel.'"

Save for Luna, all the other magicals gaped in shock…

* * *

Within an hour, one of _Hood_'s Star Flares SVC1s landed on the upper flight deck to allow the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh to step aboard, they accompanied by Prime Minister David Cameron and a small party of senior officials…including Her Majesty's Minister for Magic, Kingsley Shacklebolt and his Senior Undersecretary, Percy Weasley. To allow the levée to go ahead without any problems, snack tables and lounge chairs had been set up in the hangar itself — the other three Star Flares carried by the starship were currently on the ground at RAF Northolt in the borough of Hillingdon at London's far western end — thus allowing people to stay under cover in case inclement weather came in. Of course, _Hood_'s crew — augmented by two hundred new recruits in proper square-rig uniforms, each wearing a sailor cap proudly declaring **H.M.S. HOOD** in gold on the black tally wrapped around the headband — were there to welcome Her Majesty aboard as her Royal Standard was broken on the foremast. Present to greet the Queen and her party — atop the ship's commanding officer, Captain Nathan Kerr — was Rear Admiral Heather Thompkins of Canada, Flag Officer Commanding United Nations Earth Defence Force…and to the magicals presently on _Hood_, one of the most popular Supreme Mugwumps in the recent history of the International Conference of Magical Communities, ranked second only to Albus Dumbledore amongst British magicals.

Watching the woman known more popularly as "Spitfire" escorting the Queen as she walked amongst the sailors of _Hood_, Ron was quick to see the sash of the first class Order of Merlin wrapped around her black jacket. "Does she wear that when she's in public?" he asked Hermione's great-grandfather.

"Oh, she does. But normal military people would see that dark red ribbon on her left chest first," the regimental sergeant-major of the Royal Sussex Regiment advised.

"What is that, sir?" Mandy asked.

"That's the Victoria Cross. With a bar to show a second award," Hermione explained. "It's the highest award of valour in the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth. It ranks higher than an Order of Merlin First Class in the overall order of precedence."

Harry then smirked. "Lucky thing Percy's predecessor as Senior Undersecretary is still cooling her arse in Azkaban at Her Majesty's pleasure," he whispered. "If she heard that a 'muggle' award ranked higher than an Order of Merlin…"

The others snickered; they all had very dim memories of one Delores Umbridge…who had not weathered the attempted takeover of the Ministry of Magic by the Death Eaters during the summer of 1997 at all. After the Battle of Hogwarts and the total defeat of Voldemort's forces thanks to Harry Potter — who had been trained over the previous year by Nekane Springfield (the niece of the famous Thousand Master himself) and the Dark Lady Tsukuyomi…with clearance from the International Conference of Magical Communities — just before he would have begun his final year at Hogwarts, all those who had supported Tom Riddle in secret at the Ministry were sacked and eventually imprisoned in Azkaban. Umbridge — who had been in charge of "muggleborn registry"…but had been rendered utterly powerless when one of a series of emergency Magical Royal Proclamations from Buckingham Palace was issued to hamstring the ministry of Pius Thicknesse — was eventually tried for multiple crimes, including her actions while serving as High Inquisitor of Hogwarts a year earlier. And while pureblood bigotry towards normal-borns like Hermione Granger and magical hybrids like Fleur Delacour-Weasley was still present — one only had to listen to the private conversations of people like Draco Malfoy and others like him in the Wizengamot chambers at any of the weekly meetings — the memories of the Second Purification War were still too fresh in people's minds to allow renewed legislature to be passed so things could return to the way "they had always been."

Once the inspection of the troops was finished, the Queen returned to the dais to make a speech, and then everyone was dismissed to allow the levée to commence in earnest. As the sailors and Royal Marines went below decks to secure weapons and other kit before returning to the levée, naval reservists from H.M.S. _President_ based on the north shore of the Thames near Tower Bridge began serving food and drinks for all the guests. Everyone — save for Dora Lupin; Teddy was keeping close to his mother as she watched people around her, still as silent as the grave as her eyes flicked to and fro — had got drinks in hand by the time the Royal Couple had come up to join them, they accompanied by Nathan Kerr, Heather Thompkins, Kingsley Shacklebolt and Percy Weasley.

"Lord Potter, it's wonderful to see you and your friends again," the Queen said as she gently took Harry's hand in her own. "How are you?"

"It's always a pleasure, Your Majesty. And I'm fine, thanks," Harry stated; he had met the Queen at Hogwarts at the start of his last year there, when she had personally bestowed the Order of Merlin on him and his friends. After the monarch had greeted all the others and had been introduced to Hermione's great-grandfather, the Man-Who-Won then added, "I only just wish that things on our side of the secrecy divide were as calm as they have been since Riddle was finally dealt with thirteen years ago."

The Queen nodded. "Yes, Harry, I've seen recent issues of the _Prophet_ and the various regional magical papers concerning this large ship Young Master Tsukihana and Young Mistress Ayami happily created for us." She then gazed in amusement at Luna. "I assume, Luna, your wonderful exposé of the Task Force's mission will make heads turn."

"Hopefully so, ma'am," Luna vowed.

"If it doesn't make people want to bury their heads further into the sand," Pansy noted.

The Queen nodded again. "You have a point, Pansy. Kingsley, I thought you promised me that the silly restrictions about non-magicals born of magical families not receiving or maintaining the Order of Merlin were to be removed. Pansy and Mandy were both given third-class awards as I recall."

Kingsley sighed. "Try as we might, Your Majesty, the pureblood faction in the Wizengamot simply refuses to see reason on that matter, much less all the other things that would help us finally come in line with continental Europe," the ex-auror rumbled. Everyone was quick to sense the frustration in his voice. "No matter what happens every time we try even the cosmetic changes, those people whose relatives fought under Riddle just refuse to bend an inch. It's been a miracle that we've been able to change as much as we have over the last decade, but…"

The Queen sighed. "I will not resort to another Magical Royal Proclamation if it can be avoided." She intently gazed on the Grenadian-descent leader of her magical government as all the magicals near her sensed her drawing on the power of the Monarchy to get her point across. "But make it clear, Minister. Our patience at such intransigence is coming to an end. The next time a dark lord appears, the Separation Act will be done away with once and for all and We will be forced to rule you directly through Parliament. Many will not like THAT, I believe."

He bowed deeply. "I will do so, Your Majesty."

"If you want to make it a little easier, ma'am…" Heather coyly offered.

The Queen hummed. "I wish not to be tempted, Admiral Thompkins. You and your friends can be very **excessive** when things get out of control. I want the magicals of this land to live in peace alongside the normals, not cower in fear even more than they normally do." She then smirked as a mischievous twinkle appeared in her eye. "But I will keep your wonderfully kind offer in mind, Heather," she then added.

"We live but to serve, Your Majesty," the magical member of the War Hawks declared with a graceful bow.

Morbid laughter escaped everyone there, and then the Queen went off to meet some of the chefs and stewards from _President_ who had prepared the snacks and drinks. As soon as the Golden Trio and their companions were alone, Ron leaned over to whisper to Harry, "Any sign of Rita Skeeter? Fred and George overheard her muttering into her cups about some 'dastardly plot' you were cooking up to destroy all the purebloods at the Leaky Cauldron last night."

"I made sure she couldn't come, Ron," Percy whispered as Kingsley headed off to meet Home Secretary Theresa May, who had been chatting with Secretary of State for Defence Dr. Liam Fox. "With the way the magical wards are on this ship — as Terry explained them to me — any animagus would be exposed as soon as she came within a yard of the hull."

"Harry, why is it you don't just expose her and be done with it?" Hermione asked.

"She still has her uses, 'Mione," Harry stated. "It's a pity Professor Dumbledore never thought to teach me how to use people like her when he was still alive. Nekane — and Tsukiko-sensei — certainly were much better teachers in that regard."

Many of the magically-born people around him all shuddered on hearing the given name of Gellert Grindelwald's counterpart from Japan who was perhaps the most feared sorceress of her day…and who, unlike Grindelwald, had actually ESCAPED being persecuted for her actions thanks to the Americans, who — after rescuing the woman born Yomigawa Tsukiko and known to her detractors world-wide as the "Dark Lady Tsukuyomi" from the Nagasaki atomic bombing in 1945 — realized what her true goals had been all along and used that to force the ultimate replacement of the International Confederation of Wizards by the International Conference of Magical Communities. These days — even if Tsukiko had been exonerated by the Emperor of Japan for her actions in World War Two and was seen as a freedom fighter of the first order worldwide — most British wand magicals still viewed her as an evil monster that smashed Europe's domination of the old ICW once and for all time. Her having taken Harry Potter under her wing in the summer of 1996 hadn't endeared Tsukuyomi to many British purebloods; her stern instruction of the Boy-Who-Lived had given him a very broad and deep understanding of chaos magic…which had made things VERY hot for many of Voldemort's fighters in the summer of 1997 when "Death Eater Season" had been declared open with no bag limit. Those who had died at Harry's hands during those bloody two months were often seen as the _lucky_ ones, especially given his use of the infamous Gonebren Prison in the moors of Cornwall to lock away people like Delores Umbridge due to the wiping out of the Dementors of Azkaban with a mesonium bomb unleashed on the island prison by Harry's year-mate and sister Gryffindor Mun Aesup. It was only because of the Boy-Who-Lived's very quick and easy defeat of the Dark Lord and his forces near the end of August in 1997 — with very LITTLE casualties on the side of the light in the final battle — that had rehabilitated Harry's reputation and effectively guaranteed his becoming the head of the DMLE even after only seven years' experience in the Corps of Law Aurors after graduation.

"A pity he didn't do a lot of things, Harry. We still survived it," Percy then noted as he patted his friend's arm, and then headed off to join Kingsley.

Heather took a deep breath. "Sometimes, that's the best thing to say about a war," she noted before sensing First Sea Lord Admiral Sir Mark Stanhope approach. "Excuse me."

As the Canadian rear admiral turned to shake the hand of the senior sailor in the Royal Navy, the others exchanged looks and sad nods. "To absent friends," Harry said.

"Always. To absent friends," Nate Carter said as people hoisted their glasses.

"Absent friends," the others intoned before they clinked glasses and drank…

* * *

"Theodore. You appear to be rather lonely."

Hearing that toneless voice, Ted blinked before he turned…

…and then blinked again on seeing the twenty-something woman now standing close to him, dressed oddly in a black martial arts gi with a black belt wrapped around her waist, that decked out with a Chinese character in gold thread he didn't recognize. Noting how different she looked in comparison with other people here, he then sighed. "You shouldn't be dressed like that, miss," he whispered. "People will notice."

"They will notice what they desire to notice," the newcomer said, which made him blink at her before he took a closer look. She was clearly Oriental by birth, with a full head of dark brown hair and eyes that were a very deep shade of brown up close. In a funny way, she seemed a kinsman to one of his godfather's special teachers from his sixth year at Hogwarts, Yomigawa Tsukiko…whom Ted thought was seriously awesome. She clearly was in excellent shape; one of the reforms instituted in Hogwarts after 1997 was to reintroduce various intensive physical training classes, which had been cast to the wayside over the latter half of the previous century…most likely — or so the conspiracy theorists said these days — in a way to weaken the overall strength of British magicals and ensure that a dark lord like Voldemort would never face powerful opposition. There also seemed to be an aura of terrible danger cloaking her from head to toe. Yet she also seemed quite polite and Ted couldn't see or sense a wand or wand holster on her. "There are those who know of me. Others do not. If they choose to learn, they will learn. If they choose not to learn, do not concern yourself with them. They will pass you buy."

Ted stared at her, and then looked around. Sure enough, there were the odd people looking their way…but most of those people were nodding politely to the older woman with him; the others — after someone whispered something into their ear — also nodded in greetings before turning back to their own business. "That's some charm," he whispered as he turned back to gently touch his mother's cheek.

"There is no magic involved," the stranger mused as a contented smile crossed Dora's face on her feeling her son touch her like that. The newcomer was quick to note that reaction. "Your mother has not been fully affected by Bellatrix's living-death curse," the older woman mused as she reached over to gently touch several points on the former auror's forehead, which made Dora blink before she gazed in confusion at the newcomer. "It strikes me odd that the simplest solution to restoring your mother to proper health and vitality did not make itself apparent with the healers in charge of her care."

Ted gasped. "Mummy can be cured?" he hissed out.

A light smile — which seemed odd on such a severe-looking face — answered him. "She can. And while I understand that healers would be loath to kill one of their patients to save another — even three others, counting Neville Longbottom's parents — there are other means to restore your mother to health. Now, take your mother and proceed to the landing at the forward end of the hangar deck. Do not rush."

Hearing that, he nodded as he moved to push the anti-gravity chair forward. Watching him go, Moroboshi Negako nodded before she glanced over to where Ted's current guardian and his companions were standing, chatting away with each other. Her eyes narrowed as she scanned both Mandy Brocklehurst's and Pansy Parkinson's ki signatures, and then she nodded before she moved to follow Ted and her mother off the hangar deck…

* * *

Watching them go, Luna Lovegood smiled to herself.

Sometimes, the best way to make change…was to ask the right person for help.

The "stalebloods" — a recent nickname for purebloods that followed Voldemort's hard line that had come into vogue over the last decade; they loathed being called that as much as normal-borns hated being called "mudbloods" — wouldn't see _this_ coming…

…until it was just simply too late to stop them.

Smiling, the daughter of the _Quibbler_'s owner turned back to her friends…

* * *

For Ted Lupin, getting the chance to step into _Hood_'s interior was simply wicked.

Unlike older people in wizarding Britain, the young metamorphmagus' peers at Hogwarts hadn't gone totally sparse when the first images of H.M.S. _Hood_ flying over Diagon Alley were shown in the Monday evening edition of the _Daily Prophet_. Ted's peers had grown up in the wake of the Second Purification War, when wizarding Britain rebuilt itself from what the Death Eaters unleashed and moved to get on with their lives. The classes that came to Hogwarts post-1998 were under the stern guidance of Minerva McGonagall as their headmistress…and with the experiences of the previous seven years influencing her, the formidable mistress of transfiguration was determined to ensure another Voldemort would **_never_** rise from the ranks of Hogwarts students again. Of course — as Harry himself told Ted once — it certainly helped that one of the "emergency" Magical Royal Proclamations the Queen had issued in the summer of 1997 had completely severed all governmental controls over Hogwarts, granting it total independence from the Ministry of Magic. With that in place — and with the Board of Governors forced by that same Proclamation to swear a binding oath on their magic to always serve the interests of Hogwarts, thus effectively blocking moves to subvert the school curriculum to any political agenda — the changes McGonagall ushered in during her first years as Headmistress were still in effect…and soon restored Hogwarts' reputation as one of the world's top magical schools.

And while many in the Ministry of Magic couldn't really complain about _that_…

…some of the changes were still making people gnash their teeth.

Muggle Studies had been renamed "Studies of Non-Magical Peoples" and was currently taught by a normal-born who had gained a university degree from Cambridge after graduating from Hogwarts. History of Magic had its resident ghost teacher finally exorcised in late 1997 and was now taught by someone accredited from the Continent who DIDN'T concentrate on goblin rebellions all the time. Potions was taught jointly by Horace Slughorn and Severus Snape these days; with the discovery of "lost" magical objects from the Room of Requirement netting a lot of new operational funds, a third teacher had been brought in to instruct basic brewing techniques to the first years before Slughorn and Snape got a hold of them to expose the new students to the wonderful ways of potions. Additional teachers were also brought in to help with other core disciplines, which attracted the attention of companies across Europe who were glad to pour in sponsorship money to bring old classes back to life. Along with that came increase exposure to what had once been declared as "dark" or "forbidden" within the halls of Hogwarts. One such subject was technomancy, which had been outlawed for years in Britain but was accepted across most of the planet…and had been finally welcomed to Hogwarts as a third-year elective in 2000. With that, magical forms of television had come into serious vogue in Britain…with the first steps of a magical version of the Internet having been introduced two years ago.

It was through the MagicNet — as the magical version of the Internet was normally called worldwide — that the first images of the _Hood_ taken from Diagon were seen by Ted and his peers hours before the _Daily Prophet_ came out with its Monday evening edition.

And while older people in wizarding Britain went into a mass panic attack on seeing such a huge and well-armed "sky ship" — clearly, the word "starship" just completely flew over people's heads — Ted and his peers saw the _Hood_ as the most awesome thing ever to happen in their lives.

It made television shows like _Doctor Who_ and _Star Trek_ and movies like _Star Wars_ seem all the more real!

Even better, learning the Avalonians were providing the technology their own creators developed millennia ago — the same technology that had seen _Hood_ and her sisterships constructed thanks to a pair of bright young Japanese teenagers named Ki Tsukihana and Hakaru Ayami — to help Earth defend itself against aliens who'd want to conquer the planet made it all the more awesome.

And now, Ted knew, all his friends would be BEYOND jealous of him.

He was walking on the decks of _Hood_!

Yeah, he didn't know why he was following the stranger right now…

…but the person who guided him into this "turbolift" to travel down to Sick Bay — any self-respecting Trekker would know the meaning of THOSE words! — seemed pretty okay…even if there were things about her that creeped Ted out.

After a quiet ride that took the car down into the main hull and forward a bit, the doors then swooped open into the waiting area outside the starship's primary medical station. Waiting for them there as Ted pushed her mother's chair onto the deck was a pretty woman in the square-rig dress of a sailor. "How are matters concerning the preparation of Nymphadora's new body, Nell?" Ted's companion then asked.

A glance at Dora revealed no reaction; Harry had often told his godson about how much his mother always HATED being called by her full first name. "We're about a third of the way done, Negako-sama," the would-be medical assistant said as she moved to help Ted push Dora into the bright examination room beyond the main doors. "The elements of Mrs. Lupin's DNA that control her metamorphic and magical powers are taking time to properly encode into her new body, but the gestation should be finished before the levée ends."

Hearing that, Ted blinked before his jaw dropped. "Wait…!"

Negako gazed on him. "What do you conclude from what you have just heard, Theodore?"

Ted gazed on her — as it finally dawned on him who THIS person was; Harry had told him about the Earth Angel — and then he blinked. "You're turning Mummy into an Avalonian? Like Aunt Rose, Aunt Raven and all their friends who went to Meridiana were made Avalonians by Ms. Holmes?!"

"Do you disapprove of such an action?" the ninjutsu grandmaster then asked.

He blinked — surprised that this woman cared for his opinion; most adults would be rather leery to allow a child such leeway, especially when it came to the future health of his own mother — and then he hummed as he recalled what he had learned about Avalonians over the last five months before nodding. "Mummy would become a psychic. She would also live even longer than Nicolas Flamel and his wife did. She would probably keep her magic and metamorphmagus powers — you just said they were being 'encoded' into her DNA…" — he gazed on Nell McAndrew, who nodded — "…and that's the genetic building code for all things — so she could…finally…" He sniffed as tears filled his eyes.

Instantly, Nell swept him into her arms as he began to cry. Watching her son weep, Dora moaned as she drunkenly reached over for her child. Noting that, the would-be medical assistant moved over to gently place the sobbing Ted into his mother's lap, and then she moved to give them both a supportive hug as Dora drew her child close. A quick mind-probe later, Nell then pulled away, smiling in reassurance at Ted and Dora before she moved to beckon Negako over to one side. "She barely knows him!" the would-be medic whispered once they were out of earshot. "Negako-sama, how…?"

"Nymphadora gave birth to Theodore in one of the healing rooms in the permanent spell damage ward of St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries," the ninjutsu grandmaster noted, her voice quiet to allow Dora and Ted their moment together. "She never knew consciously that she was giving birth when he came to term in April of 1998; Nymphadora only realized she was pregnant in late August of the previous year, just before the final confrontation between Harold Potter and Thomas Riddle at Hogwarts. Still, with Harold's consistency in bringing Theodore together with his mother while she was convalescing at St. Mungo's, it forged a deep emotional bond."

"Well, it will soon become a proper _shirei'cha_ bond," Nell mused with a smile.

"Indeed it will. And once Nymphadora has recovered, Amanda and Pansy can recover from their fathers' foolishness."

Nell smirked. "The bodies are already being prepped right now, Negako-sama."

"Splendid."

* * *

The upper flight deck, an hour later…

"Utterly magnificent!"

Harry perked on hearing that jovial voice, and then he smiled, offering his hand to the man now joining him by the edge of the flight deck overlooking the starboard aft-of-midships main gun turrets. "Good to see that you made it, Horace!" he called out.

Horace Slughorn laughed as he firmly shook the hand of the son of one of one of his more promising potions students. "Glad to be here, Harry! My God, what on Earth are people moaning about when it comes to this ship?!" he said as he waved around him.

"Oh, you know most people, Horace," a familiar witch's voice declared with her normal detached sternness, which made Harry grin as he turned to watch the current headmistress of Hogwarts come up, accompanied by the other heads of houses and the youngest potions master to have emerged in Britain in centuries. "If it comes at them suddenly, they always panic and think the sky's about to fall onto their heads. Hello, Harry!"

"Hey, Aunt Minerva," Harry said as he warmly embraced Minerva McGonagall, then did the same to Pomona Sprout before he shook the hands of Filius Flitwick, Severus Snape and Ron's brother Charlie; he had become the head of Gryffindor in 1997 when Minerva had become headmistress. "Have you had the chance to meet Admiral Thompkins?"

"We did," Filius stated. Like the others from Hogwarts, he was dressed in normal-looking civilians, his second-class Order of Merlin — of all the Hogwarts teachers active at the time of the final battle against the Death Eaters, only Severus had won the first-class award for his long and dangerous work as a spy for Albus Dumbledore — hanging proudly from his jacket. "Of course, Minerva was a student — and Horace a teacher — at the time the War Hawks used Hogwarts as their base of operations in the last year of Grindelwald's War, so they had met Admiral Thompkins and her friends much earlier." He then gazed on Luna. "So how was the trip to this Yaminokuni planet, anyway? Was there any effect on your magic or Terry's magic when you were in space?"

"None at all, Professor," the daughter of the owner of the _Quibbler_ said. "We didn't go down to chase the Urusian Imperials and that Ōgi monster into the Dark Grove south of the planet's capital city, Muzlim Madiina, like the Xiàolíng Emperor and her brother and sister tōshi did…but it appears that magic is as normal on other planets as it is on Earth." She then smiled. "Then again, there were other things to distract both Terry and I — Alejandro, too — while we were with the Task Force."

"How so, Miss Lovegood?" Severus asked.

"Three of the Xiàolíng's children were restored to life during that trip, Professor: The Prince Huái of Hóngnóng, the Xiàoxiàn Emperor and the Prince Yì; he was one of the Xiàolíng's children who never survived childhood." As the others nodded — as it had been explained to many people of the Task Force during their mission when asked, the Xiàolíng Emperor of Hàn was seen far more positively by magicals these days given his sponsorship of the first imperial Chinese magical schools…which, to one extent or another, still survived to this day — Luna added, "Terry did the Neuwied Test on them. The Prince Huái scored 367 points on the Test and the Xiàoxiàn Emperor scored 418 points on the Test. Sadly, Prince Yí scored only 66 points."

Silence.

"Merlin's Beard…!" a white-faced Charlie gasped. "How…?"

"Well, the Prince Huái…"

"Harry?"

Harry perked as Hermione came up to join them. "What is it, 'Mione?"

"Have you seen Ted or Dora anywhere?"

People paused to look around. "I haven't seen them since after the Queen came aboard and the levée started," Pansy noted. "Maybe…"

"Just a moment," Luna said. "Computer, locate Theodore Lupin!"

"_Theodore Lupin is in Turbolift 29, approaching Upper Hangar Deck flats_," the polite male voice of the ship's computer answered from everywhere around them.

"Merlin!" Pomona gasped. "What was that?!"

"You can ask the main computer of the ship anything even out HERE?!" Ron wondered.

"Anywhere on the ship…Mister Trekker," Luna then teased.

Ron blushed as Charlie laughed. "Hey!" the former yelped.

"Something wrong?"

People turned as Kingsley and Percy came up to join them. "Yes, Minister Shacklebolt. People lost track of Harry's godson and Mrs. Lupin," WO1 Nate Carter explained. "Luna here was more than happy to show us the internal ship's locator system to find him."

"There he is!" Mandy said, pointing. "He's got his mother with him."

"Must have gone to the heads," Carter then mused.

"'Heads?'" a confused Percy asked.

"Toilet, Mister Undersecretary," the RSM of the 1st Battalion of the Royal Sussex Regiment explained. "The Navy has its odd language, just like magicals do."

A chuckle escaped the third oldest Weasley son. "Oh!"

"What's with Dora?!"

Hearing Pansy's concerned question, everyone looked over…

…and then blinked on seeing the polite smile on Nymphadora Lupin's face as she was pushed towards the other magicals by her beaming son. "What on Earth…?" Kingsley declared, and then he turned to Harry. "Has she ever acted like that, Harry?"

Harry shook his head. By then, the Lupins had come close enough to be able to speak to their friends without shouting. Stopping the chair his mother was sitting on, Ted then moved to slip the blanket off her. People then gaped as Dora calmly stood up from her chair and walked straight over to Harry, her movements stiff but relatively fluid. As the Man-Who-Won gaped in shock at the sight of the former auror acting like this, Dora came up to him…and then she threw her arms around him as she landed a tongue-filled kiss right on his lips. Mandy and Pansy both squawked in shock on seeing that while the others gaped…and Luna was grinning like a cat that had just caught the canary and eaten it before the owners got home. As Harry — given that both of his lovers were squibs now, any move to formally marry either Mandy or Pansy had been constantly blocked by the Wizengamot — found himself warming up to the passion flowing into him from Dora, the others just watched this…until Filius drew out his wand and whispered a spell to begin the diagnostics necessary to determine one's Neuwied Test score.

Seconds later, a ghostly parchment appeared…which made the charms master and former master duellist gape in disbelief. "Oh, Merlin…!"

Minerva looked over. "What is it…oh, my dear…!"

Mandy, Pansy and the other magicals save Luna looked.

They blinked.

Jaws were now down around their knees.

And none of them could say a damned thing.

Gazing at the ghostly parchment, WO1 Carter blinked before he gazed on Luna. "Tell me, Luna…is a score of _**three hundred-and-five points**_ respectable for wizards?"

"Oh, it's quite respectable," Luna said. "Harry's score is 244 points…and he's seen as one of the most powerful wand-wizards alive. Nowhere close to Admiral Thompkins' score, of course. She actually ranked 504 points on the Neuwied Test when Master Unspeakable Neuwied first demonstrated it at the ICMC chambers in Geneva back in 1984."

Everyone turned to gape at the daughter of the owner of the _Quibbler_…and then they blinked on hearing the voice of their sovereign ask, "So now that young Ted's mother has recovered, could Harry's other companions be allowed to recover from what their foolish parents forced on them all those years ago, Negako?"

"Oh, indeed they could," a tonally-flat voice answered, which made almost all the magicals freeze as they sensed a great, dark aura emanating from somewhere behind them. "Once Amanda and Pansy have become Avalonians, they can proceed to act as Harold's proxies in the Wizengamot and help force through the necessary reforms you have long desired that element of your government to legislate after Thomas Riddle and his subordinates were permanently dealt with in 1997."

People turned to look…

"_**THE GRIM!**_" Ron then screamed as he leapt up into the air…

…only to be snared by a glowing chain of energy ending in a grappling hook, which wrapped around his arms and waist three times before he was yanked away from falling off the flight deck to the tumbledown below — thus falling straight off the ship over a half-kilometre to the waters of the Thames — and then he got yanked over to hang in the air close to Moroboshi Negako's left leg. "Ronald," the grandmaster of Saikō Jinseijutsu-ryū calmly stated. "Do you wish to kill yourself?"

Ron blinked as the others — save Harry, who was still enjoying the wonderful kiss Dora was giving him — all stared wide-eyed at the woman in black.

Except Ted; he was trying desperately not to laugh…

_**To Be Concluded…**_

* * *

**WRITER'S NOTES**

While I did always have the idea of having the world of _Phoenix From the Ashes_ interact with the _Harry Potter_ universe — as you'll notice what I did to characters from _The Romance of the Three Kingdoms_ and the _Táin Bó Cúailnge_ such as Chìtùmǎ and the Donn Cúailnge, who appear here as immortal phoenixes of the same type as Albus Dumbledore's companion Fawkes — I did not wish to drag in the whole war with Voldemort into the story. For the _Harry Potter_ characters, their lives went on pretty much as depicted in the novels (Harry would start Hogwarts in the late summer of 1991 and graduate in the late spring of 1998)…though I did — in factoring in the world of _Mahō Sensei Negima_ and my own _Icemaidens_ stories to this universe — adjust the whole series of events leading up to the Battle of Hogwarts (which occurred in the mid-summer of 1997 as noted above). Atop that, many more people who were recorded to have died in that battle as noted in _Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows_ such as Fred Weasley, Colin Creevey and Nymphadora Tonks — and yes, to be fair, people on the other side of that battle such as Bellatrix Lestrange — survived the battle in the universe of this story.

Some elements of this story are inspired by some of my favourite _HP_ fanfic stories, such as _The Mandatory Marriage Contract Fic_ from **Itsme66**, _Old Soldiers Never Die_ by **Rorschach's Blot**, _Harry Potter and the Harem of Honeys_ by **Szordara** (all listed as favourites of mine here at this site), _White Knight, Grey Queen_ by **Jeconais** (which can be found at Jeconais' own fan fiction archive, which can be linked through his author's link at this website; please note, you have to register at that website to access the story) and the really funny short story _Pureblood Traditions_ by **Crys** (which is found at the same website Jeconais' stories are located at). Also note that the governmental structures revealed here are the same as what I use in my own _Harry Potter_ fan fiction stories…minus the Magical Sheriff concept, which didn't need to be brought in here given this story is set in a "post-war" situation for Harry Potter and company. Certain family and given names used here are my own creation, by the way.

I should also say that I consider the actual "canon" of the _Harry Potter_ series to have been revealed from all seven books of the series and all other works such as _Harry Potter and Me_ released between the original publishing date of _Philosopher's Stone_ in 1997 and the publishing date of _Deathly Hallows_ in 2007. I don't make use of any post-2007 revisions as noted at the **Pottermore** website, which was first unveiled in 2011.

And now, the specific notes…

1) Her Majesty's Starship _Hood_ (pendant number **51**, fourth ship of the name) is the starship that acts as the home vessel to the British contingent of the **United Nations Earth Defence Force** (**UNEDF**) that was formed in Part 20 of _PFtA_. Commanded by Captain **Nathan Kerr** (introduced in Part 24 of _PFtA_), the ship is crewed partially by Terran volunteers from the Royal Navy and the Royal Marines…and partially by **Avalonians** (a race of bioroids with Vulcan-like psionic powers that were first introduced in _The Senior Year_ story "What Price For Love?"). _Hood_ is a ship capable of faster-than-light travel and was built with technology that is well over five thousand years ahead of all the other races in the local cluster (as initially introduced in _The Senior Year_). She can fly at a maximum FTL speed of 3,200,000 times the speed of light (Warp 20 in the warp speed scale used in this series, which is a fifth power factor measurement). She possesses fifty-four 520 millimetre mixed-ammunition main cannons in eighteen three-gun turrets, eighteen banks of sixteen-cell anti-ship/anti-surface missile launchers that could bear annihilation (anti-matter) warheads if required, as well as multiple gun and missile anti-aircraft weapons for small-ship defence. She possesses the same type of energy deflector shields the various starships _Enterprise_ from _Star Trek_ possess. Like the battlestar _Galactica_ from both the original 1970s series and the recent re-imaged series, _Hood_ carries two hundred star fighters (called **Starfire SF1** in Britain), four large executive shuttles (the **Star Flare SVC1**) and twenty smaller shuttles (the **Space Dhow SVC2**); because of this, her proper American-style hull classification symbol is **SBBV** ("Aircraft Carrying Space Battleship"). At full manning, her crew would be 2,500 officers and rates; the ship is heavily automated to allow a skeleton crew to man her if there are not enough trained personnel to crew her. She would also have an aerospace contingent of 2,500 officers and rates from the Fleet Air Arm's **51 (Space) Naval Air Wing** (**51 [S]NAW**) and an infantry battalion battle group of 1,500 officers and men from the Royal Marines' **41 Commando** (**41 Cdo RM**), which administratively is a fighting unit of **3 Commando Brigade**.

In the British Commonwealth naval tradition, _Hood_ inherited the ship's crest and all the battle honours of her namesakes…including the famous battlecruiser sunk by the German battleship _Bismarck_ in 1941. This is in marked contrast to American naval tradition, where battle stars and campaign credits are not carried to newer ships of the same name. For example, the nuclear aircraft carrier U.S.S. _Enterprise_ (**CVN-65**) or her future namesake (U.S.S. _Enterprise_ [**CVN-80**]) would not inherit the battle stars and other awards of their namesake (U.S.S. _Enterprise_ [**CV-6**]) from World War Two. _Hood_ only possesses one battle honour, won by her namesake from World War Two: **_Bismarck_, 1941**. Such is displayed on a **battle honours board** — usually measuring 3 x 1.8 metres (10 x 6 feet) for a capital ship — posted normally on a bulkhead on the main bridge.

_Hood_'s motto is _Ventis Secundis_ (Latin for "With Favourable Winds"). Her ship's official colours are medium blue and gold…though on the ship's hull — as with almost all Royal Navy ships — the name is written in red letters as close to the stern as possible. Her ship's crest shows a Cornish chough (a raven) holding an anchor in one claw as she faces to the viewer's left, all over the year date 1859 (the launch date of the first H.M.S. _Hood_) in gold. All of the _Hood_s that have served in the Royal Navy are named in tribute to a family from Cornwall (where the chough can be found; it is used on the family coat of arms) that have served quite honourably in the British armed forces, including Admiral **Samuel Hood, 1st Viscount Hood** (1724-1816)…who was a mentor to Britain's most famous naval hero, Vice Admiral **Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson** (1758-1805).

2) The incident concerning Harry's cousin **Margaret "Maggie" Dursley** was covered in _Long Way Home_. That was where Maggie's current guardians, **Lucy O'Neill** and **Shelley Carter** were introduced. At that time, Shelley worked as a special clerk registering Avalonian-Britons for the Home Office and Lucy was — atop serving the housewife role in their home on 5 Privet Drive — planning to become a soldier in the British Army.

3) For those unfamiliar with my fanfics, the character of **Major Dean Raeburn** (now Major General) often is mentioned from time to time. The concept of **Jewel Warriors** was introduced in my story _Wanderers_. Before having Dean guest-star in _PFtA_, she appeared in _The Thunderbolt's Tears_.

4) The **Niitsítapi** are more commonly called the "Blackfoot" amongst white North Americans; they are native Canadians resident in what today is Alberta and northeast British Columbia.

5) The insignia for the **Order of Merlin** medal awarded to worthy wizards and witches in Britain has never been described in the _Harry Potter_ novels. In my _Icemaidens_ stories, I rank each of the Order of Merlin's three levels as being equivalent (though each rank of the Order of Merlin is ALWAYS subordinate to the equivalent normal medal) to the three highest levels of bravery decorations in the United Kingdom. Making the Order medallion look like the Order of the Bath medallion seemed logical. The post-nominal letters for the Order of Merlin are **MO1** (First Class), **MO2** (Second Class) and **MO3** (Third Class).

6) **Michael Parkinson** is a character I introduced in my _Icemaidens_ stories. For your information, he is a year ahead of Pansy and is a Ravenclaw.

7) Translations: **Allons-y** — Let's go; **Arms of Dominion** — The commonly accepted version of the Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom as displayed in England; **Tōshi** — Literally "Fighting Soldier," this is the name given to "Resurrected Warriors" (as magicals would term them) whose past-selves come from the Three Kingdoms age of China's history (as depicted in _Ikkitōsen_); **Shirei'cha** — The name for the empathic bond between an Avalonian mother (_shi_) and her child (_rei_), which forms automatically at birth and normally fades when the child undergoes the **Awakening** at around age twelve (since Teddy is a normal Terran, this won't happen).

8) The **4th/5th (Cinque Ports) Battalion, The Royal Sussex Regiment** was the **Territorial Army** (British reserve army) battalion of the Royal Sussex Regiment in the last decades of that regiment's existence as an independent unit of the British Army. The battalion was first formed as the "Sussex Rifle Volunteers" in 1860, then acquired its final designation in 1943. Battalion headquarters was in Worthing. In 1967 — along with the rest of the Royal Sussex — the battalion was amalgamated with other units into the **Queen's Regiment**; the 4th/5th was reduced to company size and made "C" Company of the 5th (Volunteer) Battalion. The Queen's Regiment would then be amalgamated with other units into the **The Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment (Queen's and Royal Hampshires)** — this is the same regiment Lucy O'Neill joined — in 1992.

In the universe of this story, when the Avalonians migrated to Earth, they proposed restoring all the infantry regiments that had been active in the British Army at the end of World War Two as Territorial Army units, staring with two battalions per regiment and eventually growing if required. Hence, the new incarnation of the **Royal Sussex Regiment** (short form **R SUSSEX**) would serve as an affiliated regiment of the Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment…but could mobilise additional battalions under its own regimental name if required. As matters are planned right now, the **1st Battalion, Royal Sussex Regiment** (**1 R SUSSEX**) will be headquartered in Chichester in West Sussex, while the **2nd Battalion, Royal Sussex Regiment** (**2 R SUSSEX**) will be headquartered in Lewes in East Sussex. It is planned to give the 2nd Battalion an airborne tasking; the 1st Battalion would remain as ground infantry.

As an aside, Hermione's great-grandfather **WO1 Nathaniel Carter** is inspired by his counterpart from _Old Soldiers Never Die_, Sergeant-Major Smythe. I just expanded on the concept and — since it is commonly accepted fanon that Hermione comes from Crawley in West Sussex near London Gatwick International Airport — gave my version of RSM Smythe his home regiment. WO1 Carter is also mentioned in my _Icemaidens_ stories.

9) British military uniform notes:

The **Number 2 Uniform** worn by officers and men of the British Army — also known as **Service Dress** due to its close resemblance to the fighting uniform that became standard after the Second Boer War (1899-1902) — is the mode of dress worn for most formal duties by all units. The standard Number 2 Uniform is composed of a khaki single-breasted jacket with epaulettes, breast pockets and hip pockets; a light green button undershirt and khaki tie; and khaki trousers (or for women, a skirt). Modifications to the jacket cut are made for Highland regiments to accomodate the wearing of a kilt. Headdress is typically a khaki peaked cap with a red headband, though certain services wear different models of headdress such as various coloured berets, glengarry bonnets, slouch hats or forage caps. Buttons on the uniform jacket are always of a distinct pattern and colour dependant on the wearer's corps or regiment of affiliation. Normally, issue of this model of uniform to Territorial Army soldiers is limited; in the universe of this story, replicator technology dealt with that.

The **Blue Number 1 Uniform** worn by officers and rates of the Royal Navy is the uniform type worn for ceremonial occasions. For officers, this uniform style consists of a double-breasted navy blue jacket, matching trousers, white shirt with black tie, peaked cap and black leather shoes. Petty officers, chief petty officers and both levels of warrant officer wear the same type of uniform. Leading hands, able seamen and ordinary seamen wear a traditional square-rigged sailor suit with a white sailor cap wrapped with a black tally around the base. The uniform type is divided into three levels. **Number 1A** is with medals and bearing arms (rifles or swords). **Number 1B** is the uniform with medals without bearing arms. And **Number 1C** is the uniform with medal ribbons in lieu of the proper medals themselves. For female members of the Navy, skirts can be worn save for when in Number 1A uniform.

10) All of _Hood_'s Avalonian-Briton crew are named and modelled after various Page 3 girls from newspapers like the _Sun_ and the _Daily Star_. The two whose namesakes appears here are **Leilani Dowding** (born 1980), who began modelling in 1999; she made her first appearance in the _Sun_ that year; and **Nell McAndrew** (born 1973), who served as the model for Laura Croft for the _Tomb Raider_ video game from 1998 and is also a marathon runner who has participated in the London Marathon since 2005.

Leilani's namesake on _Hood_ plans to be a **Communications Information Systems Specialist** (which is the equal of the United States Navy rating of Operations Specialist). Nell's namesake, as demonstrated above, plans to be a **Medical Assistant** (the equal of the rating of a Hospital Corpsman across the Atlantic).

In the reality of this story, the originals were quite tickled pink that they got "spirit-sisters" amongst the Avalonian-Britons now serving on _Hood_.

11) Trainee seamen in the Royal Navy do not wear the standard black epaulette slip-ons one would start to see when one is rated an **Able Seaman**. When part of a training establishment like H.M.S. _Raleigh_ (the basic training unit of the Royal Navy, located in Torpoint in County Cornwall), special coloured epaulettes are worn from the first day of training to the last, when the new trainees move on to trades training. For the Avalonian-Britons on _Hood_, they were given slip-ons in the background colour of their ship's badge, the ship's name put on a badge similar to what their counterparts on H.M.C.S. _Haida_ wear at the base of the slip-on.

12) That **Terry Boot** and his father **Ian Boot** (the first name is my creation) — it was the elder who briefed Mary Caldwell — are Unspeakables is an invention of mine that I also use in the _Icemaidens_ stories.

13) The **Separation Act, 1692** is my name for the local legislation that had to be passed to fully accept all the elements of the **International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy** and thus allow wizards and witches of Britain to break away fully from the control of Parliament to eventually form their own government, as personified by the Ministry of Magic (or as I would see it properly addressed, **Her Majesty's Ministry of Magic**). However, in the universe of my _Icemaidens_ series (and here as well), a **Magical Royal Proclamation** stands above even the Separation Act (which forms the cornerstone of the Magical Constitution of the United Kingdom, along with other certain post-1692 Acts of the Wizengamot). Released at the command of the serving Sovereign, this — following the legal theories of how a Westminster-style parliamentary government normally runs with a King or Queen at the highest level — would legally and magically bind all wizards and witches into acknowledging such acts…though such does not take away a wizard's or witch's free will to do whatever s/he might desire as key elements of the Separation Act do guarantee full freedom to use magic to one's benefit within reason.

14) For those who haven't read my stories in the past, **Moroboshi Negako** — note that all Oriental names in this story are written in "family name-first" order — was once a psionic database of ninjutsu battle knowledge and memories that became a sentient being in 1808. I introduced her in _The Senior Year_. Her presence in the mind of **Moroboshi Ataru** was — as was explained in _TSY_ — the primary reason he always chased skirts and acted like an idiot; this was meant to allow Negako the chance to gain enough ki energy to create a body for herself…with Ataru not surviving the experience. Over the years since she first appeared in the story "Spirit-War Tomobiki," I've evolved Negako into a being similar to Data from _Star Trek: The Next Generation_; calling her "Earth's first true artificial intelligence" is a comment I often use to describe her.

In the universe of this story, she became an Avalonian six months before _PFtA_ began, then became a sort of big sister figure to Ataru and his other adopted sisters, **Moroboshi Tariko** (Ataru's true twin sister, whom I model from the "civilized" Ataru that appeared in the _Yatsura_ manga story "Just The Two of Us" [manga episode #18]) and **Moroboshi Hiromi** (a tōshi of the _Ikkitōsen_ type, whose battle name would be **Ryūkō Kyōrei** and is the reincarnation of the second-to-last emperor of China's Latter Hàn Dynasty, **Liú Hóng, the Xiàolíng Emperor of Hàn** [lived 156-189, ruled 168-189]).

Negako serves as the Grandmaster of **Saikō Jinseijutsu-ryū** (literally "School of the Way of the Supreme Life"), which is the Moroboshi Clan's in-house form of ninjutsu. Negako is seen by many tōshi as the "Black Death of the Martial Arts;" in the years before she became sentient, she had been used to put down tōshi to where seen as a disruption to Tokugawa-era Japanese society. Mystics and magicals on Earth refer to her as the "Earth Angel" or the "Daughter of Mother Earth" given that her powers are based on ki manipulation of the living energy of the earth itself and that the initial psionic seed that saw her created a thousand years ago was taken from the earth. Because she is seen as grandmaster of her family Art, Negako is always addressed by Avalonians with the term "**Thoughtmistress-prime**" (though never to her face, of course); males ranked so highly are known as "**Thoughtmaster-prime**." Negako personally loathes the use of titles…though she does accept family titles such as "Onē-san" from Ataru and Tariko and "Onē-sama" from Hiromi. Most Japanese people who know of Negako always address her with either the basic honorifics "-san" or "-sama"…and "Lady Negako" in English (or the cognates to that phrase in other languages).

As shown here, Negako speaks in a very crisp and formal mode. Given her Taoist-descent beliefs, she will address all she meets — save those she considers true friends, which could only be counted on one hand — by proper given name; this is why she calls Percy Weasley "Percival" in this story. As stated above, she flatly refuses to use titles of rank when addressing people she meets…save for one person: The Emperor of Japan, whom she calls "Your Majesty." She also cares not for masking things that others would consider improper to speak of in public; Negako is often seen as blunt to the point of rudeness. She is also very much one of the deadliest people alive on Earth today, so her "eccentricities" are always tolerated.

15) A note on Harry's special teachers in his sixth year at Hogwarts:

**Nekane Springfield** is the cousin and unofficial big sister of **Negi Springfield** in _Mahō Sensei Negima_. As I've done with the _Harry Potter_ characters, I set the _Negima_ timeline according to what Akamatsu-sensei indicated were the birth years of the members of Negi's class at Mahora. By the time Nekane was asked by the International Conference of Magical Communities to train Harry, she would have graduated from the **Meridiana Magical Academy** in Wales and become a teacher there. As her true age was never established in _Negima_ — and given how young Meridiana-trained mages can be sent off to do adult things as witness what happened to Negi when he was TEN! — I see Nekane as being of the same age as Harry; in the universe of this story, her birthday was 2 June 1980 (the same birthday as her second Japanese voice actress, **Sawashiro Miyuki**). Nekane was ultimately responsible for teaching Harry wandless magic as well as giving him a thorough understanding of ALL aspects of magical societies beyond what was controlled by the British Ministry of Magic. As an aside, given the strong relations the magicals in _Negima_ have with **Nerio** (the _Mundus Magicus_), people such as Nekane and Negi are NOT under the rule of the Ministry of Magic…and thus, by treaty, are forbidden from directly interfering with wand-wizards such as Harry Potter. Given the potential threat of Voldemort at the time he reappeared in public in 1996 and how his actions could potentially affect magicals of all types, the ICMC declared an emergency exception and gave Nekane the clearance to teach Harry what he needed to know. These days, Nekane is still a magical teacher at Meridiana.

**Yomigawa Tsukiko**, also known by the style name **Tsukuyomi-no-Tsukushi** (shortened to "Lady Tsukuyomi" in English), is my own creation; she is first mentioned in _The Icemaidens and the Philosopher's Stone_. A traditional Eastern sorceress of the same vein as Amagasaki Chigusa from _Negima_, Tsukiko launched a devastating magical war in 1939 — almost parallel to the Second Sino-Japanese War and the Pacific side of World War Two (also known as the "Greater East Asia War") — to overthrow the domination of the International Confederation of Wizards on traditional Oriental magic and the magicals of various European colonies in the Indian subcontinent, southeast Asia and the East Indies. In the _Icemaidens_ universe, she was killed in the Nagasaki atomic bombing of 9 August 1945…though it is believed she ultimately survived and is planning to return to power. In the universe of this story as noted above, the American Department of Magic — who long advocated reforming the ICW to make it more egalitarian — realized what Tsukiko was ultimately after; agents of the DOM managed to get her clear of Nagasaki before _Bockscar_ came on its fateful mission. Because of her efforts to free magicals across Asia, Tsukiko was exonerated by the new ICMC after the war and officially magically pardoned by the Shōwa Emperor. These days, she is something of a recluse who lives at the **Tenmon-jinja** ("Shrine of the Gate of Heaven") in the mountains of Kyūshū overlooking Nagasaki…but was more than happy to come teach a bright student like Harry Potter when called on by the ICMC.

As an aside, Tsukiko's style name is written in the classical style as "**月読筑紫**," literally meaning "one who reads the moon from Tsukushi." **Tsukuyomi-no-Mikoto** is the Shintō god of the moon. The word **Tsukushi** — literally meaning "amethyst zither" — is an old name for the island of **Kyūshū** (literally "Nine Provinces"), the southwest of the Home Islands of Japan where cities like Fukuoka and Nagasaki are found. Note that the "no" part of the style name was never written out in ancient times; only when hiragana was developed in the Ninth Century C.E. that the character "**の**" came to be used. In modern Japanese, Tsukiko's style name is written "**月読の筑紫**."

And no, this person is NOT the crazy Shinmei-ryū swordswoman that first appeared alongside Chigusa in _Negima_; in the reality of this story, the swordswoman assumed the battle name "Tsukuyomi" in tribute to Tsukiko's actions during World War Two.

16) H.M.S. _President_ (sixth ship of the name) is the "stone frigate" (the popular nickname for a shore establishment) that serves as the primary unit for the Royal Navy Reserve in the city of London. First commissioned in 1903, _President_ is currently located in the borough of Tower Hamlets on the north shore of the Thames east of Tower Bridge. It has a detached tender, the Medway Division, located in Chatham in Kent. Units such as _President_ provide personnel augmentation to the regular Navy as well as provide specialist personnel such as harbour clearance divers, chaplains, medical support and headquarters staff support.

17) **Ki Tsukihana** (battle name **Kōgetsuei**) and **Hakaru Ayami** (battle name **Jun'iku Bunjaku**) are two of my own _Ikkitōsen_ tōshi-based characters that appear in _PFtA_. Both Tsukihana and Ayami were two of five hundred people kidnapped by the Ipraedies (a race from _TSY_) in preparation of their conquering Earth; this was the reason that the Urusians (Lum's people) launched the Tag Race in the first place. Escaping from Ipraedies custody almost two years before the time of this story, both people made their way to the Den'sha system, where they discovered a giant space factory left behind by the Sagussans (the race that created the Avalonians). Using it, they built _Hood_ and forty-nine other starships — known properly as "Type One space battleship-carriers" — to defend Earth against alien invasion. The ships were completed sometime after Ataru rid himself of his "wife" (as seen in a background scene in _PFtA_ Part 8), then brought to Earth. These vessels are now being commissioned into the armed forces of their home nations. Tsukihana and Ayami — as their creators — now serve as Special Technical Advisers to the Earth Defence Force…even if the former is only _thirteen_ years of age and the latter is _fifteen_! Legally, both of them are Moroboshi Negako's wards.

18) Rear Admiral **Heather Thompkins** — also known as **Spitfire** — is one of my characters; I created the first version of her back in the early 1980s, when I also created the first version of Major Raeburn. Originally meant as a matter-transformer like Firestorm from DC Comics, I evolved her eventually into an arch-mage of considerable power. She was a member of Major Raeburn's team of fighting metahumans during World War Two, the **War Hawks** (officially the **First Canadian Specialized Warfare Unit** [**1 CSWU**]). In the universe of this story, Heather and her friends helped Albus Dumbledore defeat Gellert Grindelwald in the **Battle of Nurmengard** sometime after the end of the European side of World War Two in 1945. Because of her high magical power, Heather was unanimously voted in as a supreme mugwump in the International Conference of Magical Communities after her retirement from the Royal Canadian Navy in 1954. She was recalled to duty during the events of _PFtA_ and asked to become **Flag Officer Commanding, United Nations Earth Defence Force** (**FOC UNEDF**), the military commander of the formation of starships _Hood_ is a part of and the senior military officer under Moroboshi Hiromi in her position as **Director, United Nations Earth Defence Force** (**DIR UNEDF**).

19) The **Neuwied Test** is my play-off on the magical version of an IQ test that often appears in _Harry Potter_ fanfics and is used to measure a wizard's total magical potential; I first introduced this in _Harry Potter and the Icemaidens_. To give you an idea of what the score means, an average wizard or witch scores between 110-160 points, someone like Albus Dumbledore would score over 200 points and house elves like Dobby score over 300 points.


	2. When Witches Become Avalonians

The upper aft wardroom, fifteen minutes later…

"So you ASKED the Lady Negako to help Dora — and Mandy and Pansy as well! — become Avalonians all to give Kingsley the necessary votes in the Wizengamot to finally put a stop to Malfoy and his idiots filibustering every attempt he, Percy or Harry make to push through reforms?!"

Luna nodded. "Of course, Hermione. Believe it or not, Lady Negako is quite willing to assist people who request her help when it's for a good cause."

Everyone stared at her…save Harry, who was currently trying to calm down the **very** passionate woman now glued to one side of him. Mandy and Pansy were also missing; both had been taken by Negako down to Sick Bay to have them undergo their body-swaps. "Um, not that we don't mind your helping us, Luna, but why…?" Percy demanded.

She sighed. "Percy, do you have any idea how bad it could have been thirteen years ago?"

People blinked. "What do you mean?" Ron asked.

"As you know, Ron, I do have a Seer's gift," Luna explained. "With that gift, I had a good idea of what might have happened hadn't Professor Springfield and the Lady Tsukuyomi stepped in to train Harry in secret during his sixth year to put down Tom and his friends, not to mention get rid of Tom's delightful trinkets." No one, of course, _ever_ mentioned the word "horcrux" in public. "If Harry hadn't been properly trained by them — given that Professor Dumbledore didn't seem to care about giving Harry any sort of serious training because of his blindness due to that prophecy Professor Trelawney gave in 1980 that stated the whole mess — what could have happened?"

The others considered that. "It would have probably taken much longer than two months for Harry to get rid of those things before he could face Riddle down and make sure he stayed dead when he was struck down," Percy noted. "In the meantime…"

Everyone else nodded. "There but the grace of the Fates go I," Horace mused.

"So by restoring Amanda's and Pansy's magic to them…" Severus moved to recap.

"They can then serve as proper proxies to Harry since he — as head of both the House of Potter and the House of Black — controls eight votes in the Wizengamot," Luna finished. "As Director of the DMLE, Harry can't vote. As we're all quite well-aware, Draco and his friends have taken advantage of that. Without the Potter/Black votes, the current number of seat votes that could be used is 78. Of them, 30 votes are aligned to Draco and his coalition. The remaining 48 votes are now divided between a neutral block of nine votes and the 39 votes that normally support the reform movement Kingsley, Percy and Harry have championed over the last decade. With the eight extra votes now in play…"

"It would finally overcome the fifty percent-plus-one vote parity needed to pass legislation in the Wizengamot," Horace completed for the younger woman. "Given that most of the neutral votes would align with the reform movement if given the chance — and if they weren't so scared of Draco and his friends — that would ALSO get past the sixty percent-plus-one vote parity necessary to shut down any filibustering in the Wizengamot chambers." He then chuckled. "Luna, why on Earth weren't you a Slytherin?!"

"Oh, that's not all, Professor," Luna said with a knowing smile. "Think of what just happened to Dora here. And think of what will soon happen to Mandy and Pansy."

Eyes locked on the contently-smiling Dora. "Oh, my heavens…!" Filius breathed out. "Fifty points to Ravenclaw, Luna! Well done, my dear! Well done!"

"I don't get it," Ron mused.

She smiled. "It's simple, Ron. Dora here was nearly stripped of all her magic when her aunt struck her down. Yet here she is, more powerful than ever — I recall her last Neuwied Test scoring her at 189 points in 1996 — and ready to take up her duties as Teddy's mother. We all KNOW how Avalonians feel when it comes to the care of children, don't we?" As people nodded, Luna smiled. "We can play up on that. After all, Harry's cousin was rescued by two Avalonians from the Dursleys, remember?"

"No doubt, Malfoy will try to play up the connection between the Avalonians and this ship to make magicals in Britain be afraid of them, Ron," Charlie added. "By helping Dora recover from what her aunt did, plus give Mandy and Pansy their magic back…"

"It could easily make Avalonians as a whole look to us like what most normals in Britain see them as: Angels of the stars," Horace stated.

"Why thank you, Thoughtmaster-prime!" one of _Hood_'s stewards, Zoe McConnell, called out from the bar nearby before she turned back to the cups she was cleaning.

The current head of Slytherin blushed on being called that. "Not that the titles they use for teachers aren't the least bit wrong, either," he then whispered.

Everyone else laughed. "And with Avalonians interbreeding with normal Terrans, the chances are quite good that we'll be seeing _Avalonian_ witches and wizards attending Hogwarts in the next decade," Minerva added. "With their powers…"

"Most magicals don't have problems with metahumans, Minerva. Especially given the example of the War Hawks when they helped Albus put down Grindelwald," Severus noted. "Avalonians — when one tears away all the complaints about their artificial and alien origins — are metahumans by the classic sense of the term."

"Harry…"

People's heads snapped around…

…and then they gaped as two typhoons of VERY happy Terran-turned-Avalonian witches leapt over to swamp the Man-Who-Won with hugs and kisses. As a beaming Nell McAndrew watched from nearby, an amused Moroboshi Negako contently nodded before she perked. "Winky!" she then called out. "Come here right this instant!"

_Pop!_ "Did someone call for Winky?" a curious house elf then asked as she looked around in confusion.

"I did."

Winky turned…

…and then her eyes went VERY wide on seeing the woman in black standing nearby. "The Great Angel of the Earth…!" the former house elf of the Crouch family then breathed out in reverent awe before she bowed her head politely to her. "You called Winky, Great Lady?!"

"Indeed I did, Winky. As you will see there, Harold is about to engage in considerable carnal congress with Amanda, Pansy and Nymphadora," Negako said as she nodded towards the three giddy witches piling on Harry Potter. "Would you transport them to their bedroom at Grimmauld Place so they can enjoy some privacy, then transport Theodore here home so he could get some sleep?" She indicated the blushing young metamorphmagus beside her. "He has had a most emotionally exhaustive evening."

After nearly fainting on sensing the incredible power now billowing from her Mistress Mandy, Mistress Pansy and Mistress Dora, Winky then grinned. "Winky will do that, Great Lady!"

_Pop!_ The four adult magicals and their teenager charge vanished. "Wait a minute!" Hermione then declared. "The wards on this ship prevent house elves from coming aboard _Hood_! How in Merlin's name did Winky teleport herself up here?!"

Negako gazed at her. "Magic, of course. How else would she come here, Hermione?"

As the normal-born gaped in shock, the other magicals fell over laughing. "In the meantime, Percival, I require your assistance," Negako then called out as she turned to leave.

Percy perked. "_My_ assistance, Lady Negako?"

"Yes. Given what I just discovered concerning Nymphadora, I believe I can assist both Franklin and Alice Longbottom in recovering from what Bellatrix Lestrange, her husband and brother-in-law did to them in 1981. The staff at St. Mungo's will have to be alerted as well; I sensed the backlash in magic when I used the soulsword to sever the curse bonds between Nymphadora and Bellatrix that rendered Theodore's mother nearly comatose in 1997. Come along now."

The third-oldest Weasley child blinked, and then he raced off after Negako. "Blimey!" Ron then breathed out. "Is the Earth Angel always like _that_?!"

"So I've been told," Luna noted before sipping her tea…

* * *

Islington, 12 Grimmauld Place, Saturday 10 July, after breakfast…

The fires of the floo burned bright as a very stocky and muscular man came through. A soft _pop!_ then heralded the arrival of Winky from the kitchen. "Master Neville!" the smiling house elf said before she curtseyed to the current Marquess of Holdenhurst. "Come in! Come in! Master Harry and his wives are still asleep now, but Winky will make some tea for Master Neville while he waits for them to wake up!"

Neville Longbottom blinked…before he gaped. "Merlin! You mean…it's all true?! The Earth Angel actually helped Pansy and Mandy get their magic back?!"

Winky rapidly nodded as she tried not to bounce up and down in sheer joy. "Yes! Mistress Dora is recovered, too! Master Teddy is so happy!"

Neville gaped…and then he laughed before moving to take his seat in the guest chair. "Smashing! Some coffee instead, Winky! I've had quite the morning with my parents now on their feet!"

"Right away, Master Neville!" _Pop!_

"That's wonderful news, young man!" Orion Black then declared from his portrait.

"Did your mother have to become an Avalonian like poor Dora did?" Walburga Black then asked; she had travelled over to her husband's portrait to be with him that morning.

"Fortunately, no," Neville said as Winky popped back in with a cup of coffee. "The Lady Negako said that by returning Mum and Dad to the ancestral home a few years ago, the family magics helped heal their bodies from the damage that was done to them by the Lestranges and Barty Crouch. Dora didn't get that sort of chance when she was moved here since this wasn't her grandmother's home." A sigh as Winky popped back out again. "Probably explains how Barty was able to pretend to be Alastor Moody back in fourth year FOR A WHOLE YEAR — even _with_ polyjuice! — after over a decade of being under the Imperius; he was kept hidden at his family's home in Wells all that time. Can't believe that no one ever considered _that_…!"

The portrait of Phineas Black nodded in understanding. "Understandable. Before St. Mungo's opened their permanent spell-damage ward, people who were comatose from things like long-term Cruciatus Curse exposure were always cared for by house elves at the family hearth. What about Bellatrix, though? I know about the soulsword and what it can do. Did she survive the Lady Negako using it to help heal your parents?"

"She did…but somehow, she got enough magic in her to apparate herself right out of St. Mungo's!" Neville reported, which made all the portraits in the living room gasp in shock; Britain's primary magical health care facility had very strong wards to guard against incidents like that, from both inside and outside. "I've alerted the aurors about this. She doesn't have a wand, but if she could do THAT…!"

"What a disgrace that girl was!" Walburga then muttered.

"'Morning, Neville…"

Neville perked as the Man-Who-Won came into the living room, dressed in a housecoat. "'Morning, Harry," the visitor from Bournemouth mused as he gave his friend a knowing look. "I take it that your night was quite exciting."

Harry moaned as he collapsed into a nearby chair, and then nodded thanks as Winky popped in with a cup of breakfast tea. "They wouldn't stop, Nev…!"

Neville laughed…and then he turned as the hearth flames flared to allow Ron to walk in. "Hey, Ron! How are things at your house with Ginny?"

Ron had a delighted grin from ear to ear. "Mum's beside herself right now…oh, thanks, Winky!" he said after taking his seat and being handed a cup of breakfast tea by Winky. "Ginny's asleep in her bedroom now; she just did the body-swap a couple hours ago and she needed some rest. That nice mediwitch from _Hood_ — Nell McAndrew — is watching over her now."

"They don't call them 'mediwitches' on _Hood_, mate," Harry noted.

"What do they call them?" Neville asked.

"Well, according to Lucy and Shelley, the Sagussan equivalent of a mediwitch or mediwizard is called _eii'sagh_, which literally means 'second-rank healer,'" Harry explained. "Fully-fledged healers and doctors are simply _i'sagh_ or 'healer.'" He then gazed on Ron. "So Molly's no longer complaining about the _Hood_, I take it?"

Ron snorted. "After helping Ginny recover from what that bastard Riddle did to her before you killed the berk, Harry? What do you think?!" he demanded. As his fellow Gryffindors laughed, the youngest Weasley son then sighed. "Still…"

"Still what?" Neville asked.

"What the heck does _marei'cha_ mean?"

Harry jolted. "Why are you asking **that**?!"

"I heard Nellie call Ginny that before I came here."

Neville gazed on a white-faced Harry. "Um, Harry…"

The Man-Who-Won sighed. "Ron, I hate to break this to you…but as of whenever Ginny and Nell soul-bonded, she became your _**sister-in-law**_."

Silence.

More silence.

Still more silence.

And then…

Ron's eyes rolled into his head as he dropped to the floor in a dead faint. Staring at his best friend, Harry sighed. "He took that very well. Didn't he, Nev?"

"Sure did, Harry," Neville mused as they sipped their drinks…

* * *

The City of Westminster, the Diagon Alley branch of the International Mercantile Bank of Gringotts, an hour later…

"My baby's married…my baby's married…my baby's married…!"

"Molly."

Molly Weasley jerked on hearing that toneless voice from nearby.

"Do cease that. You are embarrassing both Ginevra and Nell."

The matriarch of the Weasleys of Ottery Saint Catchpole rapidly nodded her head as her husband Arthur gave Negako an appreciative look. Watching this from behind his desk, Griphook — who, atop being the estate manager for the combined Potter/Black accounts, also was manager to the accounts of many of Harry Potter's friends — tried not to smirk too much at the sight of the normally boisterous woman being humbled by the Earth Angel with just a look and a flat statement. Nearby, both Ginny Weasley and Nell McAndrew-Weasley — as the latter would now be referred to officially in British magical records — were sharing a content look as they grasped hands and allowed their foreheads to touch. Sensing the powerful bond of magic and psionics forging between the young Terran-turned-Avalonian witch and the Terran-form Avalonian would-be Royal Navy medical assistant, the goblin then turned back to Negako; within the halls of Gringotts, the ninjutsu grandmaster was automatically seen as the legal guardian of any pure-born Avalonian from the Earth Defence Force…even if legally, Nell was an adult by British normal law. "So you give your approval to the marriage and soul-bonding between the Young Mistress Ginevra Weasley and Apprentice Healer Nell McAndrew, Lady Negako?" he ritually asked.

The visitor from Japan nodded. "I do, Griphook. The _marei'cha_ bond between then was forged shortly after Ginevra underwent the Awakening and they saw in each other their perfect mate." As Molly sobbed on hearing that and Arthur moved to shush her, Negako added, "Once the _marei'cha_ bond forged, the magical soul-bond marking their becoming a married couple by British magical law was also forged and registered in the Department of Mysteries. Terrance Boot contacted me to inform me of that; that is why I am here. He also promised that the official public revelation of Ginevra's soul-bond to Nell will await the next legislative meeting of the Wizengamot. And the time that Amanda Brocklehurst-Potter and Pansy Parkinson-Black are permitted to formally take up their shared husband's family votes in that chamber."

"Harry's married…Harry's married…Harry's married…!"

"_Do_ cease that, Molly."

Molly gurgled as she felt Negako's annoyed stare fall once more on her. As Arthur chuckled, the grandmaster then gazed on Griphook. "Now, I have been told by Cambria, Britannia and Caledonia that they wish to have their accounts within Gringotts managed by an energetic administrator," the visitor from Tomobiki added. "Would you desire to perform this task, Griphook?"

The Weasleys watched as the goblin before them literally explode with pride on being asked _**that**_. "Please inform the Lady Lieutenant Nelson, the Lady Captain Wellesley and the Lady Flight Lieutenant Mannock that they can count on me, Lady Negako!"

"I will do so, Griphook. Now, if you will excuse me, there are certain problems I am required to help resolve concerning a new friend of the family back home."

The goblin deeply bowed. "Of course, good lady."

With that, Negako walked out of the room. The Weasleys watched her go, and then Arthur turned back to Griphook. "Manager Griphook, who was the Lady Negako speaking of?"

Griphook grinned. "Your country's _Steel Angels_, Director Weasley!"

Silence.

More silence.

Still more silence.

And then…

Molly grew faint as Arthur gaped. "Wow…!" Ginny breathed out…

* * *

Minutes later, the Weasleys and their new in-law stepped out of Gringotts. Much to Ginny's embarrassment, the front door guards snapped to attention and bowed their heads in their direction. Nell — who was in Number 1C dress uniform — saluted in return. "Thank you, Resource Guardians," she ritually declared, using an old Sagussan title for those who protected the wealth of the community from theft. "Peace, logic and harmony to you all."

"You are too kind, Lady Healer," the bank guard to the Weasleys' left then ritually stated. "May your skills in saving lives never fail you!"

"Good day."

And with that, the four people stepped onto Diagon Alley, heading over towards Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes right beside the Flourish and Blotts Bookseller store in the general direction of the Leaky Cauldron. Stepping out of the bookstore at that time was a smiling Hermione Granger…with, as a grinning Ginny was quick to note, a bag of books in one hand. "'Mione!" the youngest Weasley called out to her old housemate, waving.

Hermione's head snapped over…and then she squealed on seeing Ron's sister now on her feet and clearly recovered from the horrid curse Voldemort had unleashed on her thirteen years before. "**_GINNY!_**" she called out as she ran over to draw the younger woman into her arms…and then she blinked. "Oh, my…!" she breathed out before her eyes fell on Nell, and then she grinned. "Congratulations!"

"Um, Director Granger…?"

Hermione turned…and then she smiled. "Ms. Braithwaite!" she said as an older woman — Betty Braithwaite was a Gryffindor who graduated from Hogwarts the year after Voldemort fell the first time — came up to her, accompanied by her cameraman. "I'm sure the readers of the _Prophet_ would be interested to learn how my friend here was allowed to recover from a thirteen year-long near-coma at the hands of the traitor Riddle thanks to the Avalonians."

Betty — who was, in the opinion of Harry Potter and his clique of friends, a much better reporter than Rita Skeeter — blinked. Staring at her, the older Weasleys could imagine the Illuminating Charm go off in the reporter's head, flashing **STORY!** again and again. As people who had overheard Hermione's statement stopped to stare wide-eyed at Ginny, Betty quickly recovered herself as she drew out a pad and pen — as a normal-born, she REFUSED to use a Quick-Quotes Quill! — and then she smiled. "Well, first of all, I hope I'm speaking for all of wizarding Britain to say how wonderful it is to have you back, Ginny. How does it feel to be up and about?"

"Horrendously disorientating," Ginny admitted as she gently squeezed Nell's hand. "I mean, to me, it still feels like the summer of 1997 and I should be near the Forbidden Forest helping Harry fight Riddle and his idiots!" As people around them all laughed, she then smiled. "As many know, I had a big crush on Harry for the longest time. Hearing that he's now with three witches who love him very much…" She sighed. "Well, if I had died that day near Hogwarts in '97, I would want Harry to go on and be happy. He's more than happy with Mandy, Pansy and Dora…not to mention helping them raise his godson Teddy. I want all the best for him…even if it, in a way, hurts."

"Would you be willing to try to seek a marriage or request to sire contract with Harry, Arthur? Molly?" Betty then asked as she gazed on the elder Weasleys. "As Ginny just indicated, her feelings for him are well-known."

Molly gaped. "After all the trouble Harry had with poor Mandy and Pansy?! Certainly not!" she snapped. "Harry was never properly raised in wizarding society after his parents were killed. While I did agree with Albus about keeping him safe from Riddle's lunatics by having him raised by his aunt, the fact that he was _**totally**_ cut off from learning how to perform his proper duties as the heir to the House of Potter — and the House of Black seeing that Sirius always marked his godson as his heir in his will — has hurt him badly these last few years. What happened to Mandy and Pansy proved that beyond a shadow of a doubt!" The older Weasleys knew about what had just happened to Harry's lovers — Harry himself would come to Gringotts to update his will and deal with the various inheritance issues later today — but given what Luna so wonderfully planned when it came to finally defeating the dark families in the Wizengamot, they wouldn't hint that Mandy and Pansy just had their magic restored. That was the surprise for Monday. "Yes, I would have gladly welcomed Harry as an in-law, but Fate had other things in mind. Besides…" She gazed on Nell. "My daughter is soul-bonded to the young sailor beside her, so they'll be deciding on their own how to make us grandparents."

"Though requesting that Director Potter serve as our _surei'cha_ — the father of our future children — IS a possibility, Lady Herald Braithwaite," Nell stated as Ginny blushed on hearing her wife publicly declare that.

Gasps escaped many of the people in the crowd as Arthur and Molly shared a delighted hug. "A _**soul-bond**_…?!" a white-faced Betty Braithwaite gasped as the _Lumos_ spell inside her mind began flashing **PAGE 1 STORY!** again and again.

A wild whoop made people turn to see a pair of twins dance a jig in front of the doors to their store nearby. As people laughed and cheered at Ginny's good fortune, the cameraman who was with the _Prophet_ reporter moved to take a picture of the new couple. Given Nell's uniform — with her ship's name proudly displayed on the tally of her cap — Betty knew whatever objections many of the pureblood lords like Draco Malfoy now expressed towards those "evil muggle golems pretending to be human" would dry up in an instant. Even better, any attempts by the Marquess of Cumbria and his allies to press for any action in the Wizengamot against the Avalonians would fail. Unlike her more well-known co-worker, Betty Braithwaite ALWAYS did thorough research when it came to preparing a story…and she intended to make as thorough a story of Ginny's soul-bonding to Nell as she could to finally ram it home to Voldemort's robe-kissers that they were totally helpless _this_ time.

After all, the **Magical Royal Proclamation in Concerns to Relations Between Her Majesty's Magical Subjects and Her Majesty's Avalonian Subjects** — proclaimed on Good Friday this year, when the Queen officially received the Ambassador of the Provisional Government of the Republic of New Avalon to the Court of St. James's, Madame Alice Holmes — flatly _**forbade**_ the Ministry of Magic or the Wizengamot from classifying Avalonians in the United Kingdom as "magical creatures" under the applicable clauses of The Magical Beings, Beasts and Spirits Act of 1811. Further, the **Magical Royal Proclamation Regarding Her Majesty's Starship ****_Hood_**** and Affiliated Units of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in Concerns to the Separation Act, 1692** — proclaimed on May Day — removed the restrictions of the International Statue of Wizarding Secrecy towards non-magicals learning about magical societies from members of _Hood_'s ship's company and all units directly assigned to her such as 41 Commando of the Royal Marines and 51 (Space) Naval Air Wing of the Fleet Air Arm.

In effect, Nell McAndrew-Weasley was legally DOUBLE protected from any harm from wizards.

Too bad.

_The age of "staleblood supremacy" is finally coming to a befitting end_, the reporter from the _Prophet_ mused to herself as she turned to ask some questions…

* * *

Islington, 12 Grimmauld Lane, Sunday 11 July, breakfast…

"Damn…!"

"What is it, Harry?"

Harry perked on hearing Pansy ask that, and then he turned the copy of the _Sunday Prophet_ around to show his wives and his mistress.

_**GINNY WEASLEY HEALED!**_**  
Sister of Man-Who-Won's Best Friend Healed by Avalonian-Briton Healer from H.M. Starship ****_Hood_****; Now Shares Soul-Bond With Woman Who Saved Her!**  
_by Betty Braithwaite_

_DIAGON ALLEY, London: Ginny Weasley (29), daughter of Director Arthur Weasley (60) of the Department of Non-Magical Artifact Abuse at the Ministry of Magic and his wife Molly (60) — and one of several victims of the arch-traitor Tom Marvolo Riddle, also known as "Lord Voldemort," driven into a magical coma by him at the Battle of Hogwarts in 1997 before he was killed by the Man-Who-Won — was seen stepping out of Gringotts' Diagon Alley branch on Saturday morning fully recovered from her wounds and in the company of her parents and a young sailor of the Royal Navy assigned now to Her Majesty's Starship_ Hood_. _

_Immediately spotted by former Gryffindor housemate Director Hermione Granger (30), Special Adviser of Non-Magical Affairs to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, who was visiting her favourite bookstore at the time, it was soon revealed that Ms. Weasley had been restored to perfect health thanks to the virtue of becoming an Avalonian, one of the beautiful race of alien women who fled to Earth earlier this year to escape chattel slavery. In becoming so, the horrid curse that deprived Director Weasley and his wife of their only daughter for thirteen years was broken once and for all…thus delivering another sound blow against the forces of Darkness. _

_Even more so, when she was restored to life and health, Ms. Weasley found herself_ soul-bonded _to the Avalonian-Briton healer who literally saved her from a permanent magical coma…in virtually the same manner former auror Nymphadora Tonks-Lupin (37) was restored to full health on Friday evening while aboard_ Hood _at a levée in the presence of Her Majesty the Queen celebrating the first successful mission of Britain's first starship. _

_Said healer, Royal Navy Seaman Trainee Nell McAndrew (physical age 20) — now officially "Mrs. Nell McAndrew-Weasley" under British wizarding law — was more than happy to reciprocate the soul-bonding with her new wife when Ginny awoke in the starship's cockpit early Saturday morning. "One never expects when the urge to seek out one's_ marei'cha _comes on meeting a potential mate," Mrs. McAndrew-Weasley explained to this reporter, using her native term for a soul-bonding. "But when Ginny woke up and we gazed at each other, it just clicked in right then and there and we bonded." Here, she snapped her fingers. "Given how much my bond-mate has missed these last thirteen years since Thoughtmaster-prime Riddle sought to overthrow Her Majesty's Government, I'll be spending a lot of time with her when I'm not on_ Hood _or undergoing training to make her feel once more at home with her friends and family." _

_When asked about the uniqueness of her soul-bond with an_ alien _of all things, Ms. Weasley laughed it off. "When I heard about the Avalonians and how much they suffered at the hands of the monsters who enslaved them for over a century, I knew Her Majesty did the right thing when she issued a Magical Royal Proclamation welcoming them as Her subjects here in Britain back in April. I got the chance to meet the Earth Angel, the Lady Moroboshi Negako, as she was aboard_ Hood _at the time performing some special work for Her Majesty, so she was more than happy to act as my wife's magical guardian when we registered our marriage with Gringotts." _

_"Lady Negako was more than willing to arrange with friends of hers from the Húŋkpapȟa Nation in America to allow Ginny and Nell to be bonded properly using their rites as soon as Nell graduates from basic training at H.M.S._ Raleigh _in a couple of months," Molly Weasley added. "Even better, Nell's captain agreed to allow the ceremony to be held on_ Hood_. We just felt so honoured that they would do that for us!" _

_"We have a new sister-in-law now," Ms. Weasley's elder brother Fred Weasley (32), co-owner of Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes in Diagon with his twin brother George, added. "She's no different to us than our elder brother's wife Fleur." _

_"Even better, Nell's going to be a healer, keeping her sisters and friends on_ Hood _safe and healthy," George Weasley added. "Of course, we'll be happy to do our part to help the folks on_ Hood _and their friends across Earth keep us all safe from aliens. We can't let the Lady Negako's poor brother do all the work, after all!" _

_When an unnamed bystander muttered that the Wizengamot should declare Avalonians "beasts" under the Magical Beings, Beasts and Spirits Act of 1811, Director Granger immediately warned this: "If there are attempts at harming Avalonian-Britons — who are protected by a Magical Royal Proclamation issued by the Queen in April — by malcontents, they will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. The DMLE is already liaising with Avalonian-Britons across the United Kingdom to ensure any attempts at abuse of those poor women are stopped before someone is hurt. Many Avalonian-Britons carry a weapon known as a Lawgiver, powered by mesonium and bauximite…which are two elements magic CANNOT defeat! As it's been known all along by the Ministry of Magic, they have authorization from the Home Office to use lethal force in self-defence. _

_"As for those who would try to keep pushing their backwards attitudes on other people, it has been explained time and time again since Riddle was done away with that ALL attempts at trying to override a Magical Royal Proclamation is seen as Treason Against The Crown," the Man-Who-Won's best female friend added. "If someone is caught doing that and Magic Itself responds to such a crime, those guilty of such crimes will forever lose their magic. Her Majesty told Minister Shacklebolt on Friday evening while we were on_ Hood _that her patience towards this insane refusal to catch up with the rest of the world is at an end. She will not hesitate to use another Magical Royal Proclamation to forever strip us of our due protections under the Separation Act of 1692 — or Merlin forbid, ask the War Hawks to come in and deal with it! — to put those idiot attitudes Riddle championed into the grave once and for all time." _

_It was announced in Wednesday evening's_ Prophet _that Supreme Mugwump Emeritus Heather Thompkins (94) of Canada — a rear admiral in the Royal Canadian Navy who was the magical world's representative in the team of warriors called the "War Hawks" during Grindelwald's War and Tsukuyomi's War of Liberation — was appointed as Flag Officer Commanding of the Earth Defence Force, which is the international military formation H.M.S._ Hood _is a part of. _

_On behalf of the staff of the_ Daily Prophet_, this reporter can only wish Ms. Weasley and Ms. McAndrew-Weasley — and all of_ Hood_'s ship's company — all the best. _

_**EDITOR'S NOTES**__: _

_For a review of the Weasley family of Ottery Saint Catchpole, see_ **A Recent History of the Weasley Clan of Ottery Saint Catchpole** _on Page 2. _

_For more details on Avalonian-Wizarding relations, read_ **The Text of Her Majesty's Magical Royal Proclamation of 2010 in Concerns to Her Avalonian Subjects and Relations with Her Majesty's Magical Subjects** _on Page 3. _

_For more on _Hood_, see_ **A History of the Fourth H.M.S. ****_Hood_**** of the Royal Navy** _on Page 4. _

_For more details on the Earth Angel, the Lady Moroboshi Negako, and her family, read_ **A History of the Moroboshi Clan of Japan, The Siblings Who Defended Earth From Alien Invasion** _on Page 5. _

_For a review of what Moroboshi Ataru's actions were in concerns to aliens during the latter half of 2009, read_ **A Half-Year of Close Encounters of the Third Kind in A Suburb of Tōkyō** _on Page 5._

Pansy giggled as she took the paper in hand. "Poor Dracy-poo!" she said in the very nauseating voice she had used back in school when she had sucked up to Draco Malfoy due to her house-mate's domination of Slytherin until Voldemort was finally destroyed.

"He's not going to like reading any of this when he gets the paper," Mandy noted.

"If he actually _reads_ the paper!" Dora noted.

The others all giggled. "Strange that they didn't say more about Mummy being better," Ted noted as he nibbled on his jelly toast.

"We're holding off on that for the time being, sport," Harry said as he sipped his tea. "The smart ones like Daphne, Tracey, Blaise and Millie will pick up on it right away. It's a pity that Mike won't be back at Keerford until early tomorrow morning."

Winky then popped in. "Master Harry, Master Blaise is here."

Harry turned as a very handsome, dark-skinned man with a mixture of Mediterranean and African ancestry on his face walked into the kitchen. "Hey, Blaise! Tea?"

"Please," Blaise Zabini said as he walked over to gently kiss Pansy's cheek before he did the same to Mandy and Dora, then he shook Ted's hand. He then hummed as his own magical senses picked up on the sheer _power_ in all of Harry's female companions. "So what's this about Dora becoming an Avalonian, Harry?!" the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot — who was a damned sight better at the job than Albus Dumbledore had been, the Man-Who-Won had long believed — wondered as he gave Harry a knowing look.

"Sit down and we'll explain Luna's nefarious plot against the Death Nibblers, Blaise," Harry bade.

Blaise gaped, and then he laughed…

* * *

Level Ten of the Headquarters of Her Majesty's Ministry of Magic of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (located under Northumberland Avenue east of Trafalgar Square) in the City of Westminster, London, Monday 12 July, morning…

"Harry!"

Harry turned and smiled. "Mike! How are you doing?!"

"Surviving, my friend, surviving! Hey, Pansy!" Michael Parkinson said as he shook the offered hand from his sister's husband, and then he moved to gently embrace her before doing the same to Mandy. On doing that, he blinked before he pulled away to gaze intently at Pansy for a moment, immediately sensing that something was quite off about his beloved sibling. "What happened?" he whispered.

"That, my friend, you're about to find out," Harry whispered back.

Michael stared at him, and then he gaped. "You are _**kidding**_ me!" he hissed.

"It was quite easy in the end," Harry affirmed with a wink. "And right now, I can _properly_ and _finally_ address you as my brother-in-law."

Hearing that, the Earl of Keerford blinked before he smiled as he firmly grasped the hand of the Marquess of Taunton Deane and Grimmauld. "Well met, brother. Well met! And thank you!" He then gazed on Pansy before staring back at her husband. "I assume…!"

"She'll vote the Black proxy until we have an heir that's old enough to take up the vote. Or we allow Ted to fall into that role when he comes of age as he is descent from a Black through his mother. As long as I'm serving in the Ministry as head of the DMLE, Mandy votes the Potter proxy," Harry said as he indicated his other wife.

As heir to the headships of TWO houses of the Wizengamot, Harry had the right to seek TWO separate spouses by ancient custom to ensure the succession in both families as it was traditionally seen as wrong for _**one**_ person to hold _**two**_ such high-ranking seats. It was even more bothersome since Harry was currently also a department head in the Ministry of Magic. In Wizengamot meetings, Harry would sit at the Minister's side along with Percy Weasley at the head of the room; these were the places where, in normal court sessions, judges would preside. Because of laws that forbade Ministry department directors from voting in the Wizengamot, Harry had not been able to cast his families' votes in legislation since he became the head of the DMLE in 2005. That — as Luna Lovegood reflected on Friday evening — had been taken advantage of by the old pureblood crowd led by Draco Malfoy to slow down or stop the heady pace of reforms Kingsley Shacklebolt had been driving for since his elevation to the position of Her Majesty's Minister for Magic in 1997. With the Potter and Black votes now legally active again and under Mandy's and Pansy's control — Harry trusted his wives to vote their consciences whenever sensitive issues might come up — that would dramatically change…much to the detriment of the would-be Death Eaters.

"The legal arrangements were registered at Gringotts on Saturday. All the clerks at the Ministry should be getting the notices far too late for all the busy-bodies to try to muck it all up," Harry added.

"Too bad." While the Parkinsons were traditionally a "darker" family in the eyes of society, Michael was swinging away from overtly influencing the government as his father and grandfather had done in years past. While this could potentially provide problems as Draco Malfoy had pretty much taken after his father when it came to bribes — though Kingsley and Percy were FAR above reproach on that matter, so the effect of said bribes was actually at a fraction of what it had been when Cornelius Fudge was Minister and under the thumb of Lucius Malfoy — it demonstrated a much greater trust in government by the leaders of the pureblood gentry. This would translate to a greater trust in government by normal wizards across Britain; all adult wizards had the right to directly vote on the position of Minister in elections normally held every decade. When it came to eventually forming a magical "house of commons" — which was the primary reform people like Harry and Kingsley had in mind for the future concerning the legislative branch of Her Majesty's magical government — that would matter quite a bit with the electorate. "Shall we go inside, Lord Potter?"

"After you, Lord Parkinson," Harry replied.

They headed into Courtroom Ten, the largest of the courtrooms in the lowest level of the Ministry; this also served as the normal meeting place for the Wizengamot during the weekly legislative sessions. Once inside, Harry was quick to notice many eyes lock on him and his companions as they made their way to the lower tier of seats over the centre stage of the room, where the senior members of the Wizengamot — the "Seven and Ten," traditionally formed by the seven Noble and Most Ancient Houses (the magical marquessates) and the ten Noble and Ancient Houses (the magical earldoms) of the Wizengamot — sat. Harry escorted Pansy to the long-empty Black seat, leaning in to kiss her on the lips as she sat, and then he did the same to Mandy at the Potter seat before he moved to ascend the dais to take his place beside Percy Weasley.

"Um, Harry…what's going on here?" the Senior Undersecretary rhetorically asked.

Harry secretly winked at him. To the shock of many who knew him personally, Percy had developed quite the comic streak over the last decade. In the wake of the Battle of Hogwarts — where Fred had nearly been killed by Augustus Rookwood before a quick shield charm by Harry had saved his life — the once stiff and formal Head Boy of Hogwarts for the 1993-94 school year had mellowed, renewing ties to his family as he sought to help the Ministry of Magic overcome decades of bribery and inefficiency and make it run as it always should have been operating. It also allowed his own personal life to progress; he was married to a lovely lady, the former Audrey Simpson — an American who had studied at the Salem Witches Institute before coming to Britain to help with post-war reconstruction as a junior administrator from their Department of Magic — and they were now expecting a daughter. "Watch."

Percy looked…and then gaped — a little too dramatically, Harry mused — as Mandy and Pansy drew out their wands and moved to activate the lamps indicating that they were ready to perform their sacred duties as voting members of the Right Honourable the Lords Magical of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in Wizengamot assembled. He wasn't the only one who appeared stunned to see that the two would-be wives of the Man-Who-Won were once more able to do magic. Daphne Greengrass, who had been Pansy's housemate in Slytherin at Hogwarts — and as the Countess of Mutuantonis, possessed the right to sit at the same level as the Parkinsons, the Potters and the Blacks — squealed in delight as she lunged over to swamp Pansy with a sobbing hug. Despite Daphne being let into the secret the previous afternoon, her delight on actually seeing Pansy once more a witch was understandable; she — along with the other "Slytherin Vixens" from their school year, Tracey Davis and Millicent Bulstrode — had been quick to ignore whatever their parents said concerning renouncing their friendships with the "squib" and helped Harry settle the then-devastated Pansy into Grimmauld Place. Seeing Neville Longbottom smile a knowing smile from his chair, Harry then smirked when he gazed on Draco Malfoy…who was now gaping in disbelief at the sight of his once-lover holding the Black proxy vote, which could spell big trouble for him and his allies. _If you pick thistles, expect prickles, Drake!_ the Man-Who-Won mused as he recalled an old eastern European folk saying.

By then, Kingsley Shacklebolt had arrived. Regal and dignified in his formal robes of state, the former auror appeared stunned silent for a moment on seeing both his chief law enforcement officer's wives seated at where they should have been all along hadn't their fathers been so stupid. Noting this, Harry smirked; Kingsley was as much of a good actor when it came to faking his emotions as Percy. Finally, after a moment, the minister recovered and then moved to take his place. "I trust there's an explanation," he quietly mused — just loud enough for Draco to hear — as he sat down as he gazed knowingly at Harry.

"It's coming," Harry promised.

By then, Blaise Zabini — the position of Chief Warlock/Witch of the Wizengamot was always given to the head of a Noble House (a magical barony) as they only had one "seat" point vote in the Wizengamot in lieu of the three votes allowed to each of the magical earldoms like the Parkinsons and the Greengrasses and the four allowed to each of the magical marquessates like the Potters, the Blacks, the Longbottoms and the Malfoys — took his place at the lectern before the dais where the Minister and his senior subordinates sat. "Ladies and gentleman, if you all can take your seats, please!" he stated in a clear voice. As soon as people had shifted to their positions and dimmed their voting lamps, he smiled. "Excellent. I hereby call this, the twenty-eighth meeting of the Wizengamot in this legislative year to order." He smiled at his former housemate. "Recognizing the presence of the Director the Lord Potter's wives, who clearly _**have**_ regained their magics as well as affirmed their bonds of matrimony to him, now in the chairs to be held by the lords of the Most Noble and Ancient Houses of Potter of Taunton Deane and Black of Grimmauld. I would assume, Lady Potter, Lady Black, that you wish to take up your proxy votes?"

Both women rose. "We do, Lord Chief Warlock," Mandy stated for herself and her co-wife. "Such was registered at the noble International Mercantile Bank of Gringotts on Saturday morning per the applicable clauses of the Treaty of 1779. Our husband does have copies of the forms required to allow our taking our husband's place as active voting members of this Most Noble House for your perusal and that of the Minister's as well whenever you may desire to see them. With your gracious permission, may we proceed with our oaths?"

"You may do so."

"**_OBJECTION!_**"

Eyes then locked on Draco, who had bolted up to his feet. "Overruled, Lord Malfoy," Kingsley flatly declared. "The Chief Warlock currently has the floor and is conducting the proper business of this House by welcoming the Lady Potter and the Lady Black into this House as their families' voting proxies. That has been set down in _**law**_ for over three hundred years. Do not interrupt again." He then nodded as Draco sank into his chair. "Ladies, my deepest apologies. Please proceed."

Mandy waved to Pansy. The raven-haired witch raised her wand and said, "I, Pansy Isabella, the Lady Marchioness Black of Grimmauld, do solemnly swear on my magic — and in the name of my beloved husband, Harold James, the Lord Marquess Black of Grimmauld — that I shall conduct the business of Her Majesty's magical subjects within the confines of this Noble House, the Right Honourable the Lords Magical of the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland in Wizengamot assembled, with impartiality and justice for all those protected by the Separation Act of 1692 and the Magical Royal Proclamation of 1692. So I have sworn before Magic Itself and these witnesses, so mote it be!"

Mandy did the same thing with her own wand as she swore her oath, "I, Amanda Grace, the Lady Marchioness Potter of Taunton Deane, do solemnly swear on my magic — and in the name of my beloved husband, Harold James, the Lord Marquess Potter of Taunton Deane — that I shall conduct the business of Her Majesty's magical subjects within the confines of this Noble House, the Right Honourable the Lords Magical of the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland in Wizengamot assembled, with impartiality and justice for all those protected by the Separation Act of 1692 and the Magical Royal Proclamation of 1692. So I have sworn before Magic Itself and these witnesses, so mote it be!"

Both their bodies glowed with pure magic to "seal the deal." On seeing that, Michael then rose. "So we all have witnessed this day, so mote it be!"

Others quickly got to their feet, screaming out, "_**SO MOTE IT BE!**_"

Delighted and relieved laughter then filled the room as people took their seats. "Well, in noting that Magic _**did**_ respond to the Lady Amanda's and the Lady Pansy's oaths to this Noble House, I think any questions about they still being squibs can be cast aside," Blaise stated before he gazed knowingly at Harry, a smile crossing his face. "And I think Director Potter and his wives will prefer to keep such knowledge as to how this happened to themselves. Though I pray I'm not too premature in hoping that your coming prides and joy will give all of you many happy days in the years to come."

Harry tried not to laugh at Blaise's wordplay while knowing grins and snorted laughs echoed from the audience. Like Daphne, Tracey and Millicent, the Baron of Lewisham had been always supportive of his former housemate after Pansy had lost her magic. And as he had shown yesterday, Blaise was no fool; one didn't survive the politics of Slytherin by being an idiot, despite what some people thought of those such as the late Vincent Crabbe — who had perished at the Battle of Hogwarts; he was the only member of the freshman Class of 1991 to have died before final graduation in 1998…even if some of their peers such as Sally-Anne Perks had left around the time they did their OWL examinations — and Gregory Goyle, Draco's constant companions throughout his first six years there. "No, you aren't too premature…but it is still quite too early to judge, Chief Warlock," he stated.

A roaring laugh echoed through the chamber — no doubt, those who hadn't read the previous morning's _Prophet_ believed that Harry's magic somehow had restored his wives' magic while they were making love to each other — as Blaise nodded. "So be it," he said before turning to his fellow Wizengamot members. "Now that we've got that out of the way, is there any business to bring up today?" He nodded as Mandy made a motion with her wand to light up her voting lamp. "The House recognizes the Lady Amanda Potter of Taunton Deane," he said with a bow of his head.

"With thanks, Lord Chief Warlock. I shall not be long," Mandy said as she rose, bowing her head in turn. "My fellow lords and ladies of this Noble House, much that my co-wife and I are pleased to be _**finally**_ able to perform our sacred duty within these halls on behalf of our husband and our families, we've taken note of a disturbing trend that has begun to swell within the hearts of many over this last week. We all remember the morning of Monday, the fifth of this month, well, when we had no choice but to accept an ugly fact of reality that those of us who have friends in Japan learned last summer:

"We are not alone in this Universe."

She paused to allow shudders and hissed whispers to echo through the halls, such then being silenced by the banging of Blaise's gavel. "But we also should take great joy at the fact that the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is at the very forefront of the defence of all of Earth," Mandy continued. "As so represented by Her Majesty's Starship _Hood_, which was commissioned into Her Majesty's most Royal Navy that very morning by His Royal Highness, the Prince of Wales…and returned from her first deep-space deployment on Friday just last with, thank Merlin, no loss of life among the ship's company. AND with their mission against aliens from the planets Uru and Phentax Two — who plotted to _**conquer**_ this planet of ours and enslave _**all of us**_, magical and mundane alike! — a complete and unqualified success!"

The whispers and hissed voices began again, this time even louder as people exchanged heated words with friends and allies. They were once more silenced by Blaise and his gavel. "Ladies and gentlemen, I remind you that the Lady Potter still has the floor," he sternly declared. As begrudging nods came from the others in the room, he turned to smile once more at Mandy. "Lady Potter, my deepest apologies. Do go on."

"Again, with thanks, Lord Chief Warlock," Mandy stated. "While we wizards and witches have long done our best to live our lives away from the influence of the muggle world, we have accidentally done ourselves a great disservice by constantly _**ignoring**_ what was happening beyond the magical barriers of places such as Diagon and Hogsmeade," she continued. "And while for the most part, it seemed as if our normal cousins were still lagging behind in certain places, they were quickly gaining in others. Thanks to what happened last summer in Japan, the desires and concerns of our normal cousins to further press the limits of their technology were enhanced with the grim knowledge that beyond the limits of our own solar system, there _**were**_ other races with the potential to reach out and visit us with great ease. And if they so desired it, _**conquer**_ us!"

She paused as sucked-in breaths echoed through the room, and then she closed her eyes. "Thus, when the opportunity finally came a little over four months ago when the Lord Moroboshi Ataru of Japan and his noble siblings brought with them back from a two-month journey to other worlds _**fifty starships**_…AND the technology to support them and create more such ships to properly defend our world from future alien threats, normal governments worldwide — _**including**_ our counterparts in Parliament just up the Thames — grasped that chance with both hands. _**And they did not let go!**_"

Total silence fell as Mandy took a deep breath. "Yet what did we do?! On seeing _Hood_ for the first time last week, we _**panicked**_! Just like we did when the arch-traitor Tom Riddle somehow restored himself to life at the end of the Triwizard Tournament in 1995 and launched the Second Purification War! And some of us plotted ways by which we would destroy _Hood_ and try to subdue if not kill off the Avalonians in their crew, not to mention those of that race that have now become Her Majesty's subjects and are starting new lives for themselves here in Britain. Are we so afraid of our own shadows that we would gladly plot to kill people — who fled a life of SEXUAL SLAVERY! — who came to OUR world seeking refuge?! And in doing so, gladly gave all the muggles of Earth access to ALL their advanced technology to help them better defend themselves in case other races came to attack and destroy them…_**AND US**_?! Why?! Because we can't stand the idea of the normals possessing the power _Hood_ represents? That we can't stand the thought of the normals evolving non-magical psionic and other paranormal powers that matched the best magic we weld? That they could actually ACCEPT us as EQUALS?!"

People stared at her. Some were fascinated. Others were totally shocked by her boldness. Others still were shaking their heads in denial. "Well, I for one refuse to see our society be destroyed because there are those — most likely the same type of people who _**refused**_ to raise wands when my husband was fighting Voldemort, if not _**actually fought**_ on that half-blood bastard child's side! — who can't stand the idea that other human beings had elected not to remain in their caves and made something of their lives," Mandy finished, ignoring the angry looks from several in the audience on her referring to Tom Riddle with such derogatory terms…which struck her as completely hypocritical as the truth behind Voldemort had been known for over a decade. "I for one refuse to condone any attempts by any selfish fool who might want to provoke a fight with those who possess no hatred towards us as a people and society. And I'm afraid I've got some bad news for those who would walk down that path: As Director Granger said to the _Daily Prophet_ on Saturday, the cries for action have made their way to _**Buckingham Palace**_! The _**Queen**_ now is fully aware of what's going on here! And she — when my husband, my co-wife and I met her on _Hood_ on Friday — told us this…"

She ignored the horrified gasps from several places in the audience; while the loyalty to the Crown was ALWAYS acknowledged, to actually go VISIT the Sovereign was seen as something wizards normally did _**not**_ do unless they were summoned by her…which Mandy conveniently forgot to mention. "If ANYONE under the protection of the Separation Act of 1692 — if any WIZARD or WITCH living in Britain, in other words! — tries anything against _Hood_, members of her crew or any Avalonian who has come to settle in Britain and swears the Oath of Loyalty to become Her Majesty's subject, they will no longer seen as worthy of BEING protected by that Act!" the Marchioness of Taunton Deane warned. "They will be declared TRAITORS to the Crown and MAGIC ITSELF!" Mandy smirked as shrieks echoed from the crowd around her before she finished, "And then spend the rest of their lives as _**squibs**_, forever forced to fend for themselves!"

"**_SHE CAN'T DO THAT!_**"

Eyes locked on Draco, who was now totally white-faced as he stared in denial at Mandy. Before Blaise could shout him down, Kingsley's deep voice echoed throughout the room, "She can, Lord Malfoy! She's the _**Queen**_! _**OUR Queen!**_ Remember?!"

The Marquess of Cumbria gulped before he sank into his chair, shaking his head in disbelief. Watching this, Harry could only shake his head; clearly, the stupid blond inbred idiot obviously hadn't got the underlying message the articles in the _Prophet_ had put out. "So instead of trying to reject them because of what _differences_ they have with us, let's look for the _similarities_ between us and our new countrywomen from the stars. And _**use**_ those similarities to forge a bond of friendship that will benefit both sides and last for ages to come!" Mandy finished. "For if they begin to intermarry with normal people — or magical people as we all know that my sister-in-law, the Lady Healer Rose Potter, and all her old classmates from Meridiana who were given new life thanks to both the Headmistress Hufflepuff's curse and the actions of the Elder Mother of all Avalonians in the United Kingdom, Madame Alice Holmes, are Terran-turned-Avalonians themselves — in Britain, the chances are very good that sometime in the future, we may be seeing _**Avalonian**_ wizards and witches go to school at Hogwarts!" As jaws around her dropped in shocked surprise, she shook her head. "They could be the salvation for the future we've long sought for our society these last few decades! The salvation that the late Headmaster Dumbledore always passionately believed lay in the normal-borns that join our society every year when they're invited to learn about magic at Hogwarts!" As people gaped in disbelief on sensing no acrimony in Mandy's voice on mentioning Albus Dumbledore — who had been effectively responsible for her being rendered a squib for twelve years! — she added, "No matter how much some of us try to deny it, the charter that was granted to Hogwarts by King William and Queen Mary over three centuries ago states that _**all**_ born in the British Isles and blessed with magic have the _**undeniable**_ right to learn of their gifts at that great old castle in Scotland! Do we _**deny**_ the rights that charter guarantees to future children who are not just blessed with magic…but with _telepathy_, _empathy_ and an _eight hundred year_ lifespan potential?! I say it would be stupid beyond belief to alienate them!" She then curtly nodded to Blaise. "I surrender the floor, Lord Chief Warlock."

She sat as many of the people in the room — including a large crowd in the visitor's gallery, all of the Weasleys and their new in-law amongst them — applauded. Watching the known "dark" members of the Wizengamot, Harry was quick to see them shaking their heads in denial over realizing that their hopes of regaining control over their society was slipping even further and further away from their fingers. After the noise finally died down, Blaise perked on hearing someone clear his throat. "Do you wish to make a statement, Minister?"

"I would, Chief Warlock," Kingsley said. "Much that I too sometimes find the advances in normal technology quite perplexing — and truly find what I saw of Avalonian technology when I was aboard _Hood_ on Friday evening as being almost magical in its own way — we can't forget that the normals in this land have as much right _**to live their own lives as they choose to do so**_ as _**we**_ do. That was the basic argument that made the Separation Act — and the Statue of Secrecy — reality in the first place. That too many seem to have _**forgotten**_ that is something that is quite disgraceful in my eyes. And I will not risk the Queen's wrath if this attitude ends up hurting people who — as the Lady Potter just so indicated — wish us no ill will. To that end, the Department of Magical Law Enforcement will continue to maintain open contact with Avalonian-Britons throughout the United Kingdom — especially those who have joined Her Majesty's Armed Forces, both regular and part-time…as well as those who no doubt are moving to become members of civilian policing agencies across the country — to make sure that we guard against such miscreants who would disrupt lives for no logical reason. And yes, while this _**does**_ potentially risk exposing our society to too many outsiders, I believe the potential benefits far outweigh the potential pitfalls. We have sat too long on our laurels and done _**nothing**_ for ourselves. _**Voldemort**_ resulted from that! We were lucky the last time; Prophecy came to help us. We may not be so lucky the next time!"

While there were still looks of denial in the faces of some — like Draco Malfoy — others were quick to nod to what the Minister for Magic just said. After Kingsley then took his seat, Blaise turned to the members of the Wizengamot. "Is there any further business that needs to be looked at today?" He then smiled politely on seeing Daphne light up her lamp. "The House recognizes the Lady Daphne Greengrass of Mutuantonis."

"With thanks, Lord Chief Warlock. I shall not be long," Daphne said after standing. "I would like to reintroduce the proposed bill concerning the striking of The Defunct Lords Act of 1957 from the law books, such having been introduced in the first session of the current legislative year." As some people gasped — with the removal of _that_ law, those normal-borns who were descent from former lords of the Wizengamot who could have claimed their family seats under traditional rules would be able to sit at last amongst their fellow magical lords…such as Hermione Granger, who was descent from the Noble House of Carter of Ifield — at the sudden introduction of such a hot piece of legislation, Daphne then smiled. "While we have two new members who have joined us today, I can say that both the Lady Amanda Potter and the Lady Pansy Black are fully aware of the text of this bill, so I propose also that we waive off a re-reading of the legislation."

Neville Longbottom then tapped his voting lamp, moving seconds before Draco could. "The House recognizes the Lord Neville Longbottom of Holdenhurst," Blaise said.

As Draco tried not to hiss in anger at being beaten by the man who had helped destroy Voldemort's last horcrux at the Battle of Hogwarts, Neville rose. "Lord Chief Warlock, as the Lady Daphne has indicated that the Lady Amanda and the Lady Pansy are aware of the contents of the proposed bill, I would like to second her proposal to waive off the re-reading of the legislation…and move immediately to vote on the legislation."

Since the voting lamps would always go dim when the Chief Warlock recognized one of the Wizengamot's members, Blaise then glanced to his right as the lamp of the person next to Daphne's was lit, "The House recognizes the Lord Michael Parkinson of Keerford."

Michael stood. "Lord Chief Warlock, I would like to third the proposal by the Lady Daphne to waive the reading of the proposed legislation…and also second the Lord Neville's proposal to move immediately to vote on the legislation."

Blaise tried not to smirk too much; thanks to Pansy's brother, he could move this debate on to its proper and long-overdue conclusion. "As there is a proposal to waive re-reading of the proposed legislation to strike off The Defunct Lords Act of 1957 from the Rolls of Magical Law — one that has been seconded and supported by two of the Seven and Ten — a vote will be held now.

"All in favour…?"

* * *

The Leaky Cauldron, lunchtime…

"So, Lady Granger…how does it feel to be part of the Wizengamot finally?"

"Well, I'll have to see how becoming a voting member would affect my other duties, Molly. Even though I'm not officially a director of any Ministry department, I am pretty high up in the DMLE hierarchy," Hermione stated after everyone drank from their cups of tea and coffee after toasting the first major blow to have been struck against the legacy of Voldemort in five years. "Atop that, all the other would-be lords and ladies who would have been denied their place in the Wizengamot because of that act will have to be asked if they want to join up as well. I know several from my class at Hogwarts who'd qualify."

"Who?!" Ginny asked from beside Nell; the would-be medical assistant was in a beautiful kimono decorated with mythical Western animals and flowers. She was also wearing her green meson earring with the symbol of a Royal Navy medical assistant on her left lobe.

"Dean Thomas, Kevin Entwhistle and Lisa Turpin," Hermione stated before she gazed in amusement at Mandy. "You as well, Mandy; your mother's family…"

"The Noble House of Lynch of Knapton. I know," Mandy stated. "That was the reason my father drove so hard to get me married to Harry. When Mum and my brother died, I was seen as the magical heir of the house…but couldn't claim the seat in the Wizengamot thanks to Malfoy's grandfather. Once I was married to Harry BEFORE he came of age…!"

The others in the room nodded. "Pity that I claimed both the Potter and Black seats — and gained my emancipation — just after Sirius died," Harry noted. "That was the first thing Tsukiko-sensei insisted on my doing before she started training me in earnest."

Some of the older people there shuddered on hearing THAT name. "A prank worthy of a Marauder, mate!" George mused as people snickered. "Remember the look on Malfoy's face when the news came that Harry became Lord Black?"

"Oh, did he ever carry on and on when that news got out," Daphne noted.

"I still can't understand why Albus _hated_ that," Molly noted.

Ron sighed. "Mum, you've got to stop looking at the man like he was bloody Merlin reborn!" he stated. "He made mistakes! A tonne of them! Not letting Harry know a damned thing about what he was supposed to do once Hagrid took him to Gringotts the first time was just the start of it!" He shook his head.

"Pity none of us ever thought of that sort of thing," Fred noted. "We always assumed Harry knew these things. By the time we all finally clued into it…"

Harry shook his head. "Don't worry about it, guys. Let it be."

"So what will you do with your family seat, Mandy?" Lì Sǔ — who had been one of Mandy's two friends from Ravenclaw to remain in contact with her when she had lost her magic in 1998; the other one had been Daphne Greengrass' co-worker Lisa Turpin, who was busy down in the Department of Mysteries at this time — asked.

"Well, I'll need a proxy. Hey, Dora! Interested?"

Eyes locked on Dora Lupin, who was currently cuddling her son in her arms, a content look on her face. "Ask her when she's not so distracted," Pansy noted.

The others all grinned on seeing that as all the women in the room felt their eyes mist in sympathy. "So what will you do, Ginny?" Tracey Davis then asked.

Ginny sighed. "Well, I don't know. I missed out on taking my NEWTs and I don't know if I want to pursue a career in quidditch." She then hummed. "Still…"

"What?" Arthur asked.

"There is the military."

Silence.

"**_WHAT?!_**" Molly shrieked out. "**_NO! NEVER! YOU WILL_**** NOT ****_JOIN THE NAVY! YES, YOU'RE MARRIED TO A NAVY WOMAN, BUT YOU WILL STAY AT HOME WHERE I CAN…UURK!_**"

People gaped on seeing the elder Weasley's eyes roll into her head before she slumped unconscious in her chair. "Sorry about that," Nell said as she pulled her hand back.

Everyone gaped, and then the twins grinned. "Fred?" George began.

"Yeah, George?"

"Did I see our sister-in-law use a _Vulcan nerve pinch_ on our own mother?"

"Indeed you did see that, dear brother, because I saw it as well!"

Both men gazed at each other…and then they dropped to their knees and began bowing deeply to the would-be medic. "**_WE'RE NOT WORTHY! WE'RE NOT WORTHY! WE'RE NOT WORTHY! WE'RE NOT WORTHY!_**" they chanted every time they bowed.

Laughter filled the main lounge as Arthur — who could understand why his sons didn't care too much for their mother's domineering attitudes at times — moved to help adjust the stunned Molly in her chair as Tom Dodderidge, the owner of the Cauldron, came up to refill people's cups before heading back to the bar. "Hey, Nell, tell me something," Ginny mused.

"What's that, Ginny-vayae?" Nell asked.

Ginny's cheeks turned a deep red on hearing her wife call her "My Darling Ginny" in Sagussan. "Are there married quarters on _Hood_?" she wondered.

"Unfortunately, no," Nell admitted. "Which is one of the things Tsukihana-oniisama and Ayami-onēsama forgot to put into those ships when they built them."

People chuckled. "Well, if you want, girls, you can use the spare flat above the shop," Fred said as the twins got back to their feet and sat down.

"Are you sure, Oniisan-tachi?" Nell asked.

The twins blushed — there was a magical translation field in the Leaky Cauldron due to it being a popular place for travellers from all over Earth — on hearing their sister-in-law call them "elder brothers" in Japanese. "We'll do it! But no using Nell for testing products!" Ginny declared. "I don't want to explain to the people at _Raleigh_ why my wife has blue hair or gold skin or Merlin only knows what else!"

"No problem, Gin-gin!" Fred said.

"Given how powerful Dora is now…" George added.

"…and guessing you're the same way…"

"…we certainly do not…"

"…want to face a Bat-Bogey Hex!" both men finished.

People laughed on hearing the infamous twin-speak from Fred and George, and then they whooped as Ginny and Nell shared a kiss. At that moment, the would-be medic then tensed as five people walked through the main doors from Charing Cross Road. "Leilani! Zoe! Keeley! Madison! Hayley! What are you guys doing here?!" she asked as five of her sisters and shipmates from _Hood_ — all dressed in beautiful casual wear with their ship's crest on their blouses and their earrings hanging from their left lower lobes — came up to them, clearly not bothered by the muggle repellant fields that ensured that no casual passer-by could walk into the Leaky Cauldron.

"Oh, don't mind us, Nell," Leilani Dowding said as she and her friends gazed fondly on Ron…and then they gazed on the twins and Blaise Zabini with very frank looks. "After all, you found a nice bond-mate amongst the magicals here in Britain."

"We wanted to see what potential child-mates may be available," Madison Welch said as she grasped the hand of her bond-mate Keeley Hazell as her eyes fell on a wide-eyed Blaise before she turned to wink at a madly blushing Ron. "After all, Master Ronald here gave us _**such**_ a good impression on Friday night."

"Not to mention seeking out bond-mates ourselves, sisters," Zoe McConnell mused as she gazed frankly at a wide-eyed Millicent Bulstrode…who had discovered her sexual orientation long ago while at Hogwarts and — upon learning of them back in March — privately hoped a pretty Avalonian-Briton would come along and select her as her lover.

"Oh, indeed we must," Hayley Coppin noted as she gazed on Daphne Greengrass.

"Aren't you supposed to be on duty?" Harry wondered.

"We've got the week off before we head off to _Raleigh_, Director Potter," Leilani said. "Subject to special recall in case some idiot tries something stupid…"

"Which would probably not happen," Madison mused.

"Thank Lyna for that!" Zoe breathed out.

People gazed at them, and then laughter filled the room…

_**The End…For Now!**_

* * *

**WRITER'S POSTSCRIPT**

_No real inspiration for this one other than a plot bunny that demanded to be let free of the cage and run around the briar patch._

* * *

**WRITER'S NOTES**

1) Translations: **Marei'cha** — Literally "the one with whom you raise a child" and normally translated as "bond-mate," this is the Avalonian version of a marriage bond; **-tachi** — The Japanese language convention that serves as the equivalent to the English plural "s" ending to a noun.

2) The rankings of the Houses of the Wizengamot in this story and my _Icemaidens_ stories:

**Noble House** (a magical barony) — 1 point in the Wizengamot (34 houses = 34 votes)  
**Most Noble House** (a magical viscountcy) — 2 points in the Wizengamot (18 houses = 36 votes)  
**Noble and Ancient House** (a magical earldom) — 3 points in the Wizengamot (10 houses = 30 votes)  
**Noble and Most Ancient House** (a magical marquessate) — 4 points in the Wizengamot (7 houses = 28 votes)

The grand total of all noble houses in the Wizengamot — including extinct houses — would be sixty-nine separate houses sharing a vote spread of 128 "seat" votes. Normal wizarding families (such as the Weasleys and Bulstrodes) are known as **Loyal Magical Houses** and only have influence on the Ministry (as noted in the text above) when comes time to elect Her Majesty's Minister for Magic (the only pure democratic process in wizarding Britain) every ten years (or whenever the sitting Minister is either impeached and removed from office [as Cornelius Fudge was in 1996 and Pius Thicknesse was in the wake of Voldemort's downfall] or dies in office [as what happened to Rufus Scrimgeour in 1997]).

As an aside, here are the place name locations for all the various lordships noted here:

**The Marquessate of Taunton Deane** (Harry Potter) — Named after the **hundred** (a sub-division of a shire that could hold a hundred households) of **Taunton Deane**, located in County Somerset around the county town of **Taunton** near the border with County Devon.

**The Marquessate of Grimmauld** (originally Sirius Black, later Harry Potter) — Named after the lane where the Black townhouse was located at 12 Grimmauld Place. I place that location in the London borough of **Islington** a kilometre east of Regent's Park.

**The Earldom of Keerford** (Michael Parkinson) — This is the medieval name for the modern town of **Carnforth** at the northern end of County Lancashire. The name itself indicates a ford over the **River Keer** about two kilometres inland from Morecambe Bay.

**The Marquessate of Holdenhurst** (Neville Longbottom) — This is the name of a small village at the eastern end of County Dorset near the border with County Hampshire. Holdenhurst is a suburb of the city of **Bournemouth** about three kilometres inland from the English Channel.

**The Marquessate of Cumbria** (Draco Malfoy) — This is the name of the county at the northwestern extreme of England, bordered on the north by Scotland, on the east by Counties Northumberland, Durham and North Yorkshire, and on the south by County Lancashire. The Malfoy family home would be on the shores of the Solway Firth south of west from the county town of **Carlisle** near the Scottish border.

**The Earldom of Mutuantonis** (Daphne Greengrass) — This is the name of a Roman village said to have been located near the town of **Lewes**, which is the central town of the Eastern Ceremonial Ridings of County Sussex, about fifty kilometres south of London.

**The Barony of Lewisham** (Blaise Zabini) — This is the name of one of the boroughs of London, located on the south bank of the River Thames about six kilometres southeast of the City of London itself (which is right at the geographic centre of Greater London).

**The Barony of Ifield** (Hermione Granger) — This is the name of a former village in West Sussex; it was absorbed into the larger town of **Crawley**…which, as noted before, is just four kilometres south of London Gatwick Airport and thirty kilometres south of London.

**The Barony of Knapton** (Mandy Brocklehurst) — This is the name of a village in County Norfolk, located two kilometres inland from the North Sea coast and about twenty kilometres north-northeast from Norwich.

As for the other normal-borns/normal-raised people mentioned by Hermione above:

**Dean Thomas** would inherit the **Barony of Aelius Bridge**, which is a variation of the Latin term _Pons Aelius_ ("Aelian Bridge"), which is located on the north bank of the **River Tyne** in the modern city of **Newcastle-upon-Tyne** about ten kilometres inland from the North Sea in the modern ceremonial county of Tyne and Wear.

**Kevin Entwhistle** would inherit the **Barony of Accrington**, which is the name of a town in County Lancashire about thirty kilometres north of the city of Manchester. Currently, Accrington is part of the borough of **Hyndburn**, which is at the south end of Lancashire.

And **Lisa Turpin** would inherit the **Barony of Brechin**, which is the name of a town and royal borough now located in the old Scottish county of Angus. Brechin (in Scots Gaelic, **Breichinn**) is located ten kilometres inland from the North Sea coast about seventy-five kilometres north-northeast of Edinburgh.

3) The characters of Lieutenant **Cambria Nelson** of the Royal Navy, Captain **Britannia Wellesley** of the Life Guards (Britain's senior cavalry regiment) and Flight Lieutenant **Caledonia Mannock** of the Royal Air Force are my own creation; they would be the British participants in the **Steel Angel War** as depicted in the early volumes of the _Kōtetsu Tenshi Kurumi_ manga series. I first used these girls in an episode of the _Emperor's Army_ storyline at the Anime Add-venture that ultimately inspired _Phoenix From the Ashes_; they appeared in episode #235416, "Harry Gets A Harem and Negi Gets A Big Sister." As noted in Part 52 of _PFtA_, Moroboshi Negako promised all the Steel Angels that they would gain the chance to become organic humans.

Cambria, Britannia and Caledonia made a brief appearance in Part 61 of _PFtA_.

4) **Betty Braithwaite** was a minor character from _Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows_; she interviewed her _Daily Prophet_ co-worker Rita Skeeter concerning her upcoming exposé on Albus Dumbledore in that story. I expanded on the character in the _Icemaidens_ stories and gave her a history.

5) The concept of **requesting to sire** — as Crys introduced in _Pureblood Traditions_ — means that a wizard can be solicited to help parent a child for a witch without the necessity of said witch marrying said wizard. The reverse process would be called **requesting to dam**. Any child of such a coupling can be raised either by the parent requesting someone to sire/dam said child (sole custody) or raised by both parents (joint custody). Inheritance issues — especially when it comes to scions of noble houses — could be decided at the time the request to sire/dam is placed in. This process would allow same-sex couples to have children of their own.

As an aside, in my eyes — stemming from JKR's revelation that Albus Dumbledore was gay — this would demonstrate some of the social advances magical society would have achieved long before like developments would occur in normal society; in the universe of this story and my _Icemaidens_ stories, same-sex marriages became legal in wizarding Britain in the late 1800s.

6) The **Húŋkpapȟa** (literally meaning either "end village" or "head of the circle") compose one of the seven main groups (called **council fires**) of the **Lakota** people (often called "Lakora Sioux") who are native to the Great Plains of North America. The Húŋkpapȟa — as with the other Lakota — are concentrated these days in reservations that can be found in North and South Dakota. I was inspired to mention this group thanks to _The Mandatory Marriage Contract Fic_ by Itsme66; the character of "He Cheated the Bearded Ones" — in fact, a magical version of the very real Lakota chief **Tȟatȟáŋka Íyotake** AKA **Sitting Bull** (circa 1831-1890) — was a character in that story and will have a background role in Part III of this series of side stories. Many thanks, as always, to Itsme66 for the use of his interpretation of Elder Tȟatȟáŋka in my stories.

7) **The Magical Beings, Beasts and Spirits Act, 1811** is my name for the official Wizengamot legislation that drew up the current classification list of all magical beings known to wizards and witches in Britain.

8) **Mesonium** (often nicknamed "meson") and **Bauximite** are fictional trans-uranium elements I sometimes use in my stories. The former — as described in _The Icemaidens and the Philosopher's Stone_ — is "the atom of the mind and soul…and thus, of magic." Mesonium is the element a Power Jewel is constructed of. Bauximite is a highly explosive non-radioactive element that can be as temperamental as nitroglycerin if improperly handled. Bonding atoms of bauximite with hydrogen can make it more stable.

As an aside, the **Lawgiver** — inspired by the like-named sidearm in _Judge Dredd_ — is the standard sidearm of the Men In Black and various alien governments known to them.

9) Those fans of the _Tintin_ comics should recognise the old folk saying Harry thinks of as he watches over Draco in the Wizengamot meeting near the end of this story.

10) I realize it would be quite odd to have a **_bank_** control and influence things such as inheritance issues and who assumes the headship of a family. In the normal world, this doesn't happen. However, it has long been a staple of _Harry Potter_ fan fiction stories that Gringotts — officially titled **The International Mercantile Bank of Gringotts** — has such powers; this concept usually runs hand-in-hand with the "helpful goblins" theme that have appeared in fan fiction stories, especially after the revelations made in _Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows_ concerning goblin law and customs as note how **Griphook** reacted to wizards possessing the Sword of Gryffindor.

As a nod to all those fanfics, I devised the **Treaty of 1779 Between His Majesty's Ministry of Magic and the International Mercantile Bank of Gringotts** to officially legislate this issue in the universe of this story. This treaty — which followed the last open goblin rebellion against wizarding influence and restrictions over the former race's internal affairs — did several things. One of them, of course, forbade the use of wizarding magic on the premises of Gringotts without the permission of the goblins; to even DRAW a wand in the presence of any employee of the bank unbidden would result in the wizard or witch being killed right then and there. Another clause — as noted by Mandy above — was to give Gringotts the right and duty to administer all matters concerning wills and all related matters such as disposition of property and the bestowing of lordships unto worthy heirs; along with this would be the right to administer such matters as the registering of voting proxies in the Wizengamot.

In essence, this second clause effectively wiped out all influence by the Ministry of Magic in whomever takes up a voting seat in the Wizengamot and the actual time such person can assume such a role. This would ensure that no one — not even someone as influential as Albus Dumbledore when he was both Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot and Supreme Mugwump of the International Conference of Magical Communities — could object when Harry Potter was made the Marquess of Grimmauld after Sirius Black died in 1996; on his becoming the new lord of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black, Harry was legally emancipated as an adult a year ahead of his achieving his majority and could then claim his own family seat to become the new lord of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Potter/Marquess of Taunton Deane. This potential outcome prompted the whole issue concerning Albus going behind Harry's back to force an engagement to **Mandy Brocklehurst** which so badly affected her life in the wake of the Battle of Hogwarts; it was hoped that by forcing Harry to marry Mandy, Mandy's father could influence the joint Potter-Black votes in the Wizengamot to keep them allied to the "Light."

In return, the goblins vowed to never institute any schools that taught wand magic that is learned at Hogwarts. Also, the goblins vowed to never have any commerce with any graduate of the **Meridiana Magic Academy**; this will be emphasized in detail in the next _Wizards and Avalonians_ story. Both these concessions, however, really don't affect Gringotts' overall earnings. While goblins working for the British branch of the bank in Diagon Alley may be forced to adhere to such restrictions, goblins have their own magic — which is usually projected through metal implements such as swords and daggers — to defend themselves. Atop that, given that Gringotts is an INTERNATIONAL bank with branches worldwide, those branches in other countries could easily take up business with Meridiana graduates in those nations if need be.

11) Harry's sister **Rose Potter** mentioned by Mandy here in this part is the same character I created for my _Icemaidens_ series of stories. As to how she came into being and how she became an Avalonian, that will be explained in the next two _Wizards and Avalonians_ stories.

12) **The Defunct Lords Act, 1957** is my name for the legislation which officially declared various Houses of the Wizengamot "deceased" due to the fact that no proper magical heir — in other words, a child of magical parents who did NOT receive an invitation to Hogwarts at age eleven — had appeared to take control of the family seat in the Wizengamot. This is the explanation I used in my _Icemaidens_ stories to explain why the Wizengamot only had about fifty members at the time of _Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix_; the fact that this law existed was one of the first blows Voldemort's allies amongst the pureblood nobility struck against the Ministry of Magic to ensure that normal-borns could not derail any legislation that would come to hurt them in the long term. As noted by Mandy above, the person who wrote the bill that would become the Defunct Lords Act was **Draco Malfoy**'s late grandfather Abraxas.

13) Notes on the namesakes of _Hood_'s Avalonian crew introduced in this part: **Zoe McConnell** (born 1981) first began topless modelling in 1999, but later gravitated to professional photography; **Madison Welch** (born 1990) would get the chance to guest-star on the popular automotive review show _Top Gear_; **Keeley Hazell** (born 1986) began modelling at age 17 and also gravitated to both acting and environmental activism; and **Hayley-Marie Coppin** (born 1983), who began modelling in 2003 and later gravitated to soft-core pornography.

As for their trades while serving in the Royal Navy, Zoe's namesake intends to become a **Steward - Catering Services Logistician** (the equal of a United States Navy Culinary Specialist who works in the wardroom). Madison's spirit-sister plans to become a **Writer - Logistician** (equal to a United States Navy Yeoman). Keeley's namesake will become an **Engineering Technician (Weapons Engineering)** (equal to an USN Gunner's Mate). And Hayley's spirit-sister will serve as an **Engineering Technician (Marine Engineering)** (equal to the rating of Machinist's Mate across the Atlantic).


End file.
